Zambia - 2014 Election
In October 2014 then president Sata died in office. On January 20, PF candidate Edgar Lungu was elected president in a by-election. International and local observers considered the election freely contested. Lungu won with a narrow majority of 27,757 (1.66 percent), receiving 48.3 percent of the vote; the UPND’s Hakainde Hichilema received 46.7 percent. The nine other candidates each won less than 1 percent of the vote. Electoral observers and monitors noted the elections were conducted freely and cited few irregularities. Media coverage, police presence, and legal restrictions, however, heavily favored the ruling party and prevented the election from being genuinely fair.
Since 2011 there have been 67 petitions filed challenging parliamentary election results. The majority of the challenges alleged corruption or other electoral malpractice. Of these 67 petitions, the PF challenged 55 seats while the opposition UPND petitioned eight seats, the MMD three seats, and another opposition party candidate one seat. There were no new court nullifications. The most recent Supreme Court decisions to nullify seats in 2013 overturned previous High Court decisions to throw out the cases, and many observers believed the decisions were based on spurious grounds. Court decisions to nullify several of the seats cited as grounds for nullification modest contributions to churches and the practice common among all political parties of distributing traditional wraps (known as chitenge) with candidates’ emblems on them. Deaths of parliamentarians and party switches also prompted by-elections. A total of 26 seats had become vacant since 2011. In addition to the 11 by-elections in 2013, seven additional by-elections took place on February 25, August 19, and September 11. Of these seven by-elections, the PF won four, UPND two, and MMD one. By year’s end the PF had increased its number of seats from 60 in 2011 to 82, UPND from 28 to 32, while the MMD’s seats dropped from 55 to 37. Both the ADD and FDD remained with one seat each while independent members held two seats. Three seats remained vacant pending court decisions.
Clashes between the PF and opposition supporters characterized the February 25 and August 19 by-elections; the subsequent September 11 by-elections proceeded with little incident. Independent monitors observed that while residents who campaigned in their own constituencies were peaceful, violence occurred when rival campaign teams met during the campaign period, often exacerbated by trucked-in supporters from other urban areas. Where violence occurred, monitors observed that both the PF and the opposition ferried busloads of supporters--often from Lusaka and the Copperbelt provinces--to by-election constituencies. Independent monitors also observed that PF campaign teams often used government vehicles, at times replacing government license plates with obsolete private tags. The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) criticized district commissioners, who are civil servants, for participating in political campaigns.
Historically, political parties operated without restriction or outside interference, and individuals could independently run for office. The government, however, interfered with the operations of opposition political parties. Although on a reduced scale, some Alliance for Better Zambia, MMD, and UPND officials continued to face police and legal harassment. Police arrested opposition officials, blocked public rallies, and dispersed participants in opposition political gatherings and public protests.
Clashes between the PF and opposition supporters marred the 30 June 2014 by-election in Mulobezi (Western Province). NGOs expressed concern at the increasing use of firearms during small-scale interparty clashes related to seven other by-elections. Independent observers also noted that police frequently arrested opposition supporters but not PF members, and PF campaign teams often used government vehicles, at times replacing government license plates with obsolete private tags. The Electoral Commission of Zambia criticized district commissioners, who are civil servants, for participating in political campaigns. Government officials, including ministers, increasingly used government resources to conduct campaigns.
NGOs and the opposition accused the government of misusing public resources by causing the Electoral Commission to conduct unnecessary by-elections based on politically motivated court nullifications of prior election results and other maneuvers. Opposition parties contended the by-elections were intended to exhaust their financial resources and make it easier for the ruling party to win opposition-held seats. NGOs criticized the government for committing government resources and contracts prior to elections to gain voter support for the ruling party.
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