Hichilema election challenged…LCK Freedom Foundation, Kasonde and Changala ask ConCourt to nullify August 13 poll
Hichilema election challenged
…LCK Freedom Foundation, Kasonde and Changala ask ConCourt to nullify August 13 poll
By EMV REPORTER
THREE petitioners have asked the Constitutional Court to nullify the August 13 presidential election and declare President Hakainde Hichilema’s election invalid on grounds that the poll was conducted in an environment that violated the Constitution.
The petitioners comprising lawyer and human rights advocate Linda Kasonde, Brebner Changala and LCK Freedom Foundation Limited, have cited the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), Attorney-General and Hichilema as respondents.
They contend that the electoral environment before, during and after the poll violated Article 45 by failing to guarantee the free exercise of political rights and an election that was free and fair, and free from violence, intimidation and corruption.
“The electoral environment in which the Election was conducted, before, during and after the poll, contravened Article 45 of the Constitution,” the petitioners said.
The petitioners have challenged the ECZ’s declaration of Hichilema as President, arguing that the official results are contradicted by independent verification undertaken by the Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG).
The petitioners state that CCMG’s Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT), based on results from 1,491 of 1,500 sampled polling stations, estimated Hichilema’s share at 56 percent, compared with the ECZ’s declared 60.5 percent. The PRVT estimated Brian Mundubile’s share at 42.3 percent, against the ECZ’s 37.9 percent, while national voter turnout was estimated at 53.5 percent, compared with the ECZ’s 57.23 percent.
The petitioners say the divergence was concentrated in 30 constituencies where official turnout exceeded the plausible PRVT range by more than 10 percentage points and where the movement in recorded votes favoured the United Party for National Development (UPND).
They have also alleged that there is direct evidence of alteration of votes between polling stations and constituency tally centres.
The petition states that,in the four constituencies for which tally-centre records were made available to CCMG observers, discrepancies were found at 11 of 24 sampled polling stations. In 10 of those stations, the UPND vote recorded at the tally centre was higher than the figure announced at the polling station, by an average of 178 votes and by as much as 401 votes at one station.
The petitioners have separately condemned the ECZ’s decision to suspend tallying and announcement of results on August 14, alleging that the decision was unlawful and created a real risk that the results subsequently announced could have been manipulated.
They accuse the ECZ of failing to publish polling-station-level results in a bulk, analysable format, withholding Records of Proceedings at Totaling of Votes and GEN20 forms, failing to ensure equal access to campaign space and security, and declaring preliminary presidential results shortly before 03:00 hours on August 18.
The petitioners’ principal constitutional ground is that the election violated Article 45 and compromised the constitutional guarantee of the secrecy of the ballot under Article 46.
They argue that national registration numbers were recorded on or against ballot papers at polling stations observed by the SADC Electoral Observation Mission and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region mission, while the nationwide suspension of tallying and announcement was followed by deterioration and disruption at several totaling centres.
The petition stated that there was politically motivated violence and cites the fatal shooting of former Lunte MP and Cabinet minister Mutotwe Kafwaya, as well as the treatment of other political actors, as part of the circumstances surrounding the tallying and announcement of results.
The petitioners maintain that these events contributed to an electoral environment incompatible with a free, fair and violence-free election.
They have also challenged the deployment of the Zambia Defence Force to polling stations, totaling centres and the National Results Centre, alleging that the deployment was illegal and created a climate of fear among voters, party agents, observers and election officials.
The petitioners also said Brian Mundubile, George Chisanga, Trevor Mwamba, Kafwaya and some supporters were detained and questioned by army officers in an unlawful exercise of policing powers.
Another ground concerns alleged use of government programmes and public resources to influence voters.
The petitioners said SMS messages were sent to Social Cash Transfer beneficiaries suggesting that they vote for Hichilema and the UPND to protect or continue receiving their benefits. They acknowledge, however, that the civil society organisations whose statement they rely on said they had not independently verified the source of the messages.
The petitioners stated that taken individually or cumulatively, the irregularities mean that the declared results cannot be said to reflect the free and fair expression of the sovereign will of the Zambian people.
They are asking the Constitutional Court to declare the August 13 presidential election unconstitutional and Hichilema’s election invalid, set aside and nullify the declared presidential result and order a fresh presidential election.
Alternatively, they want the court to order a full recount and re-tabulation in the 30 constituencies identified by CCMG, together with Kalomo Central, Lufwanyama East and Lufwanyama West, followed by consequential re-tabulation of the national result.
The petitioners are also seeking orders compelling the ECZ to publish all Records of Proceedings at the Totaling of Votes and images of GEN20 forms for all polling stations, as well as full records concerning the August 14 suspension of tallying and announcement of results.