United Party for National Development (UPND) in Kabwata Constituency has disclosed that the party has not yet decided if it will still maintain Andrew Tayengwa as its Parliamentary candidate in the Kabwata by-election.
In an interview with Lusaka Star , UPND Kabwata Constituency Information and Publicity Secretary, Mainda Simataa said the party’s National Management Committee has not convened to decide on who will be the ruling party’s parliamentary candidate in Kabwata following the cancellation of the polls by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ).
As required by the constitution, the party will file in fresh nominations and It is the duty of the National Management Committee to select a new candidate or maintain the same one.
he said
Meanwhile, Patriots for Economic Progress (PEP) President, Sean Tembo has called for the removal of Article 52(6) of the Zambian constitution that makes it mandatory for elections to be canceled if one of the candidates withdraws.
Tembo said the article is detrimental to the democracy of the country and has resulted in a waste of time and resources.
As Patriots for Economic Progress we are disappointed with the cancellation of elections in Kabwata , We had put up a spirited campaigns and our work is now lost,
he said
We are hopeful that going forward, measures should be put in place to ensure that the provision of Article 52(6) is withdrawn from the constitution.
The PEP party president added that the withdrawal of the United Progressive Party (UPP) candidate was engineered by one of the political parties who felt that they had not fully prepared for the by-election.
We were hopeful that this type of politics had gone with the Patriotic Front (PF), but now we are surprised that the new players are practicing the same kind of toxic politics, which involves bribing candidates and compelling them to withdraw from the election.
he said
The Electoral Commission Of Zambia (ECZ), yesterday, cancelled the Kabwata parliamentary by-election after United Progressive Party (UPP) candidate, Francis Libanda withdraw from the elections, hence, invoking the provisions of Article 52(6) of the constitution of Zambia.