PF nullifies election results

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) secretary-general Davies Chama has nullified recently held party election results in Chongwe constituency and directed chairperson for elections Jean Kapata to conduct fresh polls.
The elections will be held on March 19, 2016.

This follows a petition by 14 ward chairmen out of the 19 wards during the constituency elections held in June last year.
According to a letter signed by Mr Chama and availed to the Daily Mail yesterday, the elections ad-hoc committee established that the conference was characterised by violence, intimidation and disruptive behaviour.

“Fresh elections in Chongwe be held because the elections were not free and fair,” the letter reads.
“The election itself was conducted by show of hands and not by secret ballot in an atmosphere full of threats and intimidation and as a result all positions went unopposed,” the letter reads in part.

The letter further states that 12 nomination forms were “lost” in order to deny aspiring candidates an opportunity to contest.
Some of the grounds of the petition were that the dissolved constituency committee was the one receiving nominations resulting in conflict of interest.
The dissolved committee also introduced a K240 fee per ward and as a result some ward officials were denied entry for failure to pay the fee.

“Members of the electoral college were asked to pay K10 each and those who could not afford to pay were denied entry. The dissolved committee also introduced a nomination fee of K20,” the letter reads.

Zambia Daily Mail