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ONLY five out of the 46 registered political parties have successfully paid the presidential nominations fees ahead of the August 11, 2016 general elections.
A survey conducted by the Daily Nation yesterday revealed that those that had paid were the Patriotic Front (PF), United Party for National Development (UPND), United National Independence Party (UNIP), Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) and Green Party (GP).
Yesterday, May 17, 2016, was the deadline set by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) for political parties to pay their presidential nominations fees or be excluded from the election.
Meanwhile, all the political parties who failed to deposit at least half of the K75, 000 in the stipulated ECZ account have automatically been disqualified from standing in the August 11 general elections.
On Saturday, ECZ public relations manager Cris Akufuna said if any of the presidential aspiring candidates failed to deposit K37, 500 by yesterday such a candidate would be disqualified.
“It is clear. If you don’t deposit half of the nomination fee in the stipulated ECZ account by the deadline, then you won’t stand,” he said.
According to the ECZ, the electoral body does not want to handle cash as the case was in the past. The Commission prescribed 10th May, 2016 to 17th May, 2016 as dates during which to deposit at least half of the K75, 000.
‘‘Aspiring presidential candidates should present to the Commission a bank deposit slip as proof of payment for inclusion on the nomination timetable. The balance should be deposited in the Electoral Commission bank account before nomination day,” Mr Afukuna said.
He said all aspiring presidential candidates should ensure that they presented to the returning officer a bank deposit slip as proof of full payment with their nomination papers on the nomination day.
FDD spokesperson Antonio Mwanza said Ms Edith Nawakwi’s nomination fees were paid a long time ago. UPND secretary general Stephen Katuka confirmed that his party had equally paid the nomination fees for president Hakainde Hichilema.
The Nation
