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The Zambian Civil Liberties Union (ZCLU) says the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has no legal basis for its decision to conduct a fresh parliamentary election in Mandevu Constituency.
ZCLU Executive Director, Isaac Mwanza, stated that no law provided for what should happen when ballots and election materials were destroyed at tallying centres.
In a statement issued in Lusaka on Saturday, Mwanza noted that the decision followed an attack at the Mandevu totalling centre during aggregation, which left the Returning Officer unable to declare results.
He observed that neither Section 56 nor Section 75 of the Electoral Process Act provided an obvious legal foundation for the action.
“Section 56 applies before voting commences, yet the Mandevu incident occurred after voting and during aggregation,” Mwanza said.
He argued that Section 75 allowed a revote at an affected polling station where ballots were lost before counting, but Mandevu involved destroyed equipment at the totalling centre.
Mwanza said unless ECZ could show the circumstances fall within Section 75, that provision could not justify cancelling the poll across the entire constituency.
Read More: Electoral body orders fresh parliamentary poll for Mandevu after attack on results centre
“Article 57 allows a by-election only where a parliamentary vacancy occurs, yet no MP was declared elected and no seat was vacated,” he said.
Mwanza emphasised that ECZ should explain what vacancy triggered a by-election and why a targeted remedy at affected polling stations would not suffice.
He further stated that the core question was whether ECZ had identified any law empowering it to nullify an already-conducted election and order a fresh constituency-wide poll.
“Without such a provision, this matter should be subjected to judicial scrutiny by the Constitutional Court,” Mwanza said.
ECZ Chief Electoral Officer, Brown Kasaro, announced this week that a fresh election would be held in Mandevu after unknown individuals attacked the totalling centre, destroyed result transmission kits and took documentation.
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