You can also buy votes, Zaloumis tells CF
By Tony Nkhoma
YOU can also buy votes if you want, Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) Chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis has told the Citizens First (CF) party.
This follows a complaint presented by CF secretary general, Vincent Chintu to ECZ after rampant vote buying by the United Party for National development (UPND) in the just ended by-election.
Speaking when he featured on Capital FM Radio on Wednesday, Chintu said a complaint was raised by his party at a stakeholders meeting chaired by Zaloumis, where her response was not only a mockery but an attack on the country’s democracy.
He accused Zaloumis of being compromised, doubting her impartiality ahead of next year’s general elections.
“You see, whenever we reported such things to Madam Mwangala, we did this at a meeting at Mulungushi. What are you going to do about the vote buying, which is happening in all these by-elections? And all she could say was, everyone is doing it, you can also do it, you can also do it if you wish since everyone is doing it, that was Madam Zaloumis,” Chintu said.
He said the victories in the recent by-elections by the UPND was cosmetic and never reflected the will of the people.
He said the ECZ was helping the UPND to win by-elections due to their reluctance to stop electoral malpractices and violence perpetrated by those in leadership.
“And unfortunately, the ones that we trust, the ones that we want to call as the referees, political referees, who are the ECZ, they are also helping this government to inflict pain on the electoral process of the country. They are inflicting pain on the value of elections in a democracy,” he said.
Chintu said the ECZ was supposed to take center stage by ensuring that all electoral malpractices were put to a halt in line with the legal provisions.
“Is that the way you can run an institution, if there is something wrong, they needed to come out and protect everyone, every political party, because we may not have the muscle of the government, you know, for us to fight with them in these political parties, using the money that they are using,” Chintu said.
He said the ECZ under the current leadership was toothless because it was siding with the ruling UPND in running its independent function such as elections, delimitation, registration of voters and other electoral affairs.
“So, I want to urge the ECZ to come out in the open, and also make sure that such things are not supported, because they are the ones who are supporting them. That’s why we are calling them to be toothless, because they don’t act on these matters,” he said.
Chintu said the UPND was winning the by-elections because of the inaction by the ECZ to act against all well-known electoral malpractices which include violence, intimidation and vote buying.
He warned that the people of Zambia were watching the injustice perpetrated by the UPND with the help of ECZ, adding that Zambians would air their grievances in the ballot box during the 2026 general elections.
“The reasons we are saying Zambians are watching and time is running out for them. We are already a few months from the elections and they can’t do anything, you know, to help it for them to be kicked out because time is already out,” he said.
Chintu said next year’s election would not be the same as by-elections, warning that no amount of intimidation seen so far would work to stop the will of the people.
He said even the use of what he called archaic laws such as the Public Order Act to stop the oppositions from campaigning would not work because people were resolved to remove the UPND from government.
“So, 2026, it won’t be the same. The people of Zambia are no longer happy with the UPND, they are resolved to remove the UPND. They are tired of Hakainde Hichilema and have nothing more to do with him apart from voting him out of power,” said Chintu.
He said the challenge the UPND had now was the people of Zambia whom they have injured with their betrayal and not any single opposition political party.
“They should go back to the drawing board because most of the things that they promised Zambians, they are not doing. So, 2026, of course, they will be shown the door by the Zambians. Our wish is that we work together as opposition political parties to make sure that we kick out the UPND in 2026,” he said.
