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class=”f”>Zambia Daily Mail by Online Editor on 6/20/13
Accept Feira election results
FOR some time now, opposition political leaders have been very acrimonious and they are always crying foul over the policies and decisions of the ruling party, even when the PF government means well.
Other opposition parties have been expelling their members of Parliament (MP) whenever their MPs are appointed to join the government leading to by-elections because some opposition leaders do not want to work with the government.
Opposition leaders should work with Government as is the case in other democracies such as the United States of America, Britain, Norway, India and other democracies across the world.
Yesterday, voters in Feira constituency in Luangwa cast their votes to elect a new MP following the defection of Patrick Ngoma from the MMD to the ruling PF and we hope that the voters cast their votes in a free and fair manner.
We are urging all political parties participating in the by-election to accept the outcome of the elections to avoid unnecessary tension so that the country can focus on developmental issues instead of bickering about sour grapes all the time.
We are saying so because there are certain politicians who are fond of bickering or accusing the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) of foul play even when they know that they are not popular and could not have won an election.
To them, elections are only free and fair if they win, otherwise they resort to all sorts of blame games, when in the first place they knew very well that they had little chance of winning the election.
There can only be one winner in an election and it is, therefore, important that all political parties bear this in mind so that our democracy can flourish.
ECZ has ensured there is transparency in conducting elections so that every political party in the polls has an equal chance to emerge victorious, so long it is the most popular and has done its campaigns well.
There have been reports of some pockets of violence and we expect that this should not continue on the actual election day.
We know that there are losers who refuse to accept defeat even when they know that the election was free and fair but they will still cry foul.
It is, therefore, important that everyone who is participating in the polls should be ready to accept the result without claiming that the election was not free and fair.
There is need for political players to exhibit maturity so that confidence in the electoral system is enhanced to ensure our democracy grows further.
For us, it is important that the ECZ is given support and trusted so that apathy, which has been increasing in some elections, is reduced.
As we await results of the election in the Feira poll, we only expect ECZ to conduct free and fair elections because this has happened before and did so even in the September 2011 presidential and parliamentary elections.
