SADC post-poll review too late – Lifuka
By a Correspondent
GOVERNANCE expert Reuben Lifuka says the visit by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Electoral Advisory Council to conduct a post-election review of Zambia’s 2016 and 2021 general elections is too late to have a meaningful impact.
Lifuka said conducting a post-election mission nearly four years after the 2021 polls was misplaced.
He said the review should have been conducted earlier to allow the United Party for National Development (UPND) administration an opportunity to address some of the flaws experienced in the 2021 general elections.
“This visit by SADC to conduct a post-election review of Zambia’s 2016 and 2021 general elections is too late to have a meaningful impact,” Lifuka said.
He urged the SADC team to review its own electoral protocols, arguing that such an important assessment should not be undertaken so late in the electoral cycle.
“This exercise is very important in fostering democracy and promoting good governance. We need to have free and fair elections. So, it remains important for the SADC Electoral Advisory Council to genuinely listen to the views of all stakeholders it will engage,” he said.
The regional body should move away from the perception that it only conducts reviews for appearances’ sake.
Lifuka, a promoter of good governance in Zambia and Africa as a continent, said the Zambian government should act on the recommendations that would be made by the council, especially as the country remained with few months before elections on August 13.
