Socialist Party has accused the ruling UPND of engineering the withdrawal of the UPP Candidate from Kabwata By Elections
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Loading... - Kuki Kahindi
- 10 Jan 2022
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The Socialist Party has accused the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) of engineering the withdrawal of United Progressive Party (UPP) Kabwata parliamentary candidate Francis Libanda from the January 20th election.
Addressing the media in Lusaka yesterday following the withdrawal of Mr. Libanda’s candidature from the Kabwata by-election race, Socialist Party General Secretary Cosmas Musumali alleged that the UPND engineered this resignation because it has been facing challenges to sell its candidate Andrew Tayengwa who has allegedly been rejected by the people of Kabwata.
Dr. Musumali said that with this resignation, the UPND is well aware that according to the law, the Kabwata by-election will have to be canceled and the process started all over again.
Dr. Musumali claimed that the Socialist Party is aware of 2 new candidates that the UPND will choose from to replace Mr. Tayengwa when the new election date is announced by the Electoral Commission of Zambia(ECZ).
Dr. Musumali has since appealed to the ECZ to treat the Kabwata case differently and allow the candidates who are already on the ground to continue with their campaigns and the election to go ahead.
The UPP candidate Francis Libanda withdrew his candidature from the race citing failure by the Commission to act on a candidate whose credentials and origin have been questioned by his own political party as the reasons for his withdrawal.
Mr. Libanda said the silence from the law enforcement agencies to arrest the questionable candidates who have undue influence against other candidates because of their past dealings especially the PF candidate Clement Tembo who was involved with the Presidential Empowerment Scheme has also forced him to resign.
Mr. Lilanda said he did not want to be part of a corrupt scheme working against the will of the process.
Meanwhile, Socialist Party President Fred M’membe has said that ECZ is on very firm grounds in not allowing fresh nominations in the Kabwata parliamentary by-election following the withdrawal of the UPP candidate, adding that they used the absurdity rule and not the literal interpretation of the statute.
Dr M’membe said that the absurd result principle in statutory interpretation provides an exception to the rule that a statute should be interpreted according to its plain meaning. Read More...
