VOTERS URGED TO REJECT EMOTIONAL VOTING AND EMBRACE DISCERNMENT
Lusaka… Tuesday July 22, 2025 – In a special segment on his current affairs program ‘Politics Aside’, host Charlie The-engineer Simusokwe has called on citizens to reflect deeply on the quality of their political choices, warning that emotional voting driven by dislike for certain candidates could have damaging consequences for national development.
Speaking candidly on the show, Charlie noted that many people have adopted the mindset: “As long as it’s not him, I’ll vote for anyone.”
He questioned the logic behind such an approach, urging voters to consider what kind of politics–and ultimately, what kind of country–that mentality was building.
Charlie explained that elections should ideally be a contest of ideas, vision, and competence.
However, he observed that increasingly, people were casting their votes not in support of a candidate, but simply in opposition to someone they disliked.
He warned that this trend lowers the standards for leadership, allowing unqualified individuals to assume powerful roles.
“When we elect someone who has no clue how to lead–just to block someone we dislike–what happens then?” he asked, highlighting the real-world implications of such decisions, especially in countries across Africa, including Zambia.
He went on to criticize what he described as a dangerous collapse of political standards.
According to him, political decisions were now being driven by the desire to exclude rather than to elevate capable leaders.
He lamented that voters were being guided by revenge, silence, and ego rather than by competence and progress.
Charlie challenged listeners to ask hard, uncomfortable questions.
He encouraged them to differentiate between personal dislike and actual incompetence, emphasizing that it is possible to dislike someone while still acknowledging their ability to lead effectively.
“When we let personal dislike blind us to effectiveness, we open the door to mediocrity–or worse,” he said.
“And mediocrity in leadership is never neutral. It costs jobs. It costs progress. It costs lives.”
He appealed to voters to put their country above their egos and to raise the bar for leadership.
He warned that simply seeking to block an unpopular figure did not harm the individual as much as it damaged the nation.
Charlie concluded the segment with a plea for discernment. He urged citizens to vote intentionally, based on informed judgment, not fleeting emotion or pride.
“Democracy gives us a choice,” he said. “But choice only matters when it’s informed, intentional, and principled.”
There have been some words which have entered political discourse in the last four years…hatred, bitterness, envy and indeed dislike.
Am trying to analyze the views of Charlie, and whether him also ascribe to the elevation of these elements, as the prime movers of voting decisions in the current dispensation.
What of those who always vote for their own, no matter what. Pre-Indepedence , immediate post independence, the trend has been the same, which even led to the introduction of the one party system in Zambia . Ofcourse there was one election in which there was an exception, a departure in the pattern, in 1991, but the trend crawled back thereafter.
How do we classify this voting pattern…on hate or dislike. ?
Did Kenneth Kaunda, Rupiah Banda or Edgar Lungu lose elections because of Hatred or dislike, or their loss was caused by other factors?
If Hakainde Hichilema was to lose elections in 2026, would this be because of hatred or dislike?
Personally I would rather remove the sentiments of “Like” , “Hatred” from the discourse. They seem to be a distraction, and a cover for incompetence, bad Governance, or poor leadership.
Sometimes ease try to be objective when commenting on issue? The problem is that you like cherry pick data to suit your biased point of view. Which region has not been voting for their own in the country for most of the elections in Zambia? In fact, the people you accuse of voting in such a manner have voted for all the parties which have been in power from UNIP, MMD, PF and now UPND. There have been MPs in Southern province from these parties but tell when the first UPND MPs were elected in Luapula, Northern, Muggings and Eastern provinces. Once you answer that, then you will know who has been doing what you are claiming.
Sometimes please try to be objective when commenting on issues? The problem is that you like cherry picking data to suit your biased point of view. Which region has not been voting for their own in the country for most of the elections in Zambia? In fact, the people you accuse of voting in such a manner are even better, some regions have never voted for UPND until 2021 but on the other hand Southern province has voted for all the parties which have been in power from UNIP, MMD, PF and now UPND. All thses parties have had MPs in Southern province, but tell me when the first UPND MPs were elected in Luapula, Northern, Muchinga and Eastern provinces. Once you answer that, then you will know who has been doing what you accusing the innocent region for your misguided claims.