ULP to ensure 50%+1 is in new constitution

ULP to ensure 50%+1 is in new constitution
By Maluba Jere
Sunday April 27, 2008 [04:00]

United Liberal Party (ULP) president Sakwiba Sikota has vowed that they will fight tooth and nail to ensure that the 50 per cent plus one vote threshold for one to be elected Republican president is enshrined in the new constitution. Sikota said his party would continue lobbying all National Constitution Conference (NCC) members and other stakeholders to make them understand that the 50 per cent plus one vote requirement was the best option for Zambia.

“We do not agree with President Mwanawasa’s assertions that there are dangers in having the 50 per cent plus one in the new constitution,” Sikota said. “Even the example of post-election violence in Kenya and Zimbabwe are not entirely correct and cannot be said to have been caused by the 50 per cent plus one vote clause in the constitutions of the two nations.”

Sikota said the post-election violence in Kenya and Zimbabwe should not be used to scare people from supporting 50 per cent plus one.

“Some of the countries that have experienced the worst forms of post election violence do not have the 50 per cent plus one requirement in their constitutions. A good example is Kenya,” Sikota said.

“The problems in Kenya and Zimbabwe have not been caused by the electoral systems of the two countries but by the leaders and their electoral commissions.”

Sikota said the 50 per cent plus one was vital in promoting national unity and ensuring the legitimacy of the president after elections.

“The 50 per cent plus one will also help avoid unnecessary by-elections created by a president who might spend his tenure of office trying to buy legitimacy as was the case after the 2001 elections,” he said.

Sikota said the violence in Kenya has been caused by lack of transparency and honesty when handling the electoral processes by government officials.

“Zimbabwe, which has a runoff system is particularly in a crisis because the government has refused to release the presidential election results as required by law,” said Sikota.
President Levy Mwanawasa recently cautioned MMD members sitting on the NCC over the 50 per cent plus one majority presidential vote in view of what is happening in Kenya and Zimbabwe.

President Mwanawasa, during MMD parliamentary caucus meeting at State House, advised MMD members of parliament and party's representatives sitting on the NCC to take a leaf of the implications that had arisen in Kenyan and Zimbabwean elections as a result of enshrining a 50 per cent plus one presidential vote requirement in the constitution.

President Mwanawasa, however, did not ask the MMD members to vote against the 50 per cent plus one but appealed to them to consider its implications in view what was happening in Kenya and Zimbabwe.