Cadres running our elections, says FDD
By Tony Nkhoma
THE 2026 general elections will be highly compromised because of the appointment of United Party for National Development (UPND) aligned cadres to run key electoral institutions, the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) has said.
FDD information and publicity national secretary Caesar Liteta said Zambia needed a neutral and independent electoral system because Zambians had lost hope in the current electoral system.
Liteta said the electoral system had been compromised because of political interference in the Office of the Registrar, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) and the National Assembly of Zambia.
“For the electoral processes in Zambia to be accepted by all stakeholders as being free and independent, the country needs to put in place a neutral electoral system. We have UPND aligned cadres at the helm of all these offices in charge of the electoral processes in the country,” he said.
Liteta said ECZ chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis was a UPND cadre while Speaker of the National Assembly Nellie Mutti had opted not to be neutral but side with the UPND.
“These three offices, when neutral and totally free of political interference, could lead Zambia back to its usual self of being the best multiparty democracy that has remained united every other election year,” Liteta said.
“The Electoral Commission [of Zambia] is equally full of UPND cadres and affiliates led by commissioner Mwangala Zaloumis and, worse still, Parliament is equally led by Speaker Nelly Mutti, who has openly shown that she can never be neutral but will always side with the UPND and their imingalato programme.”
Liteta said Zambia needed neutral electoral processes management institutions as much as possible.
Zambians had since independence never been subjected to such political tensions as those being experienced under the UPND.
“We have never experienced such political tension in the country before, compared to what we are being subjected to under the UPND government,” Liteta said.
Liteta said none the Registrar of Societies, ECZ Commissioners nor the Speaker of the National Assembly had the right to kill the country’s electoral system by serving individuals instead of the nation at large.
Liteta said calls for Zaloumis, Mutti and the Registrar of Societies to resign had always fallen on deaf ears because they were key players in implementing the UPND’s imingalato [dirty tactics].
“What we are seeing at the Registrar of Societies, ECZ and Parliament are well orchestrated imingalato by the UPND government aimed at ensuring that opposition political parties are destabilised,” Liteta said.
On Tuesday, former Kasenengwa member of Parliament Sensio Banda challenged Zaloumis to resign for banning the wearing of alliance campaign regalia other than that of the candidate of their sponsoring political party.
Banda said the ban was illegal because Zaloumis did not have such powers.
