People won't accept fraudulent polls - Chali

People won't accept fraudulent polls - Chali
By Roy Habaalu
Sat 17 Sep. 2011, 13:55 CAT

MMD will not govern this country if they use tricks to win the elections, warns a PF official.

In an interview, Benson Chali, who is Patriotic Front Central Province chairman said people would not be fooled into accepting a fraudulent election.
He said people would not tolerate a situation where voting continued after the official close of polls.

"We are not going to accept what happened in 2001 where people were voting in the MMD strongholds while results were being announced. If you let MMD strongholds continue voting, that will bring problems for the MMD themselves. They are not going to govern this country if they are going to use tricks," Chali warned.

He said the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) should heed Dr Kenneth Kaunda's advice and conduct itself in an honest manner.

Dr Kaunda on Thursday appealed to ECZ to let the will and the interests of the people prevail without hindrance so that Zambia could maintain its historic reputation as an oasis of peace and tranquility.

Chali urged ECZ to listen to people's concerns over the corruption of Universal Print Group (UPG), the South African company engaged to print ballot papers for next week's general elections.

And Chali said MMD should not cause electoral chaos because there was only one Zambia.

"They need to be warned in advance; a friendly warning, a Christian warning. We have got five days to go and this is the only Zambia we have and we don't want anybody to behave more Zambian than others. If it (rigging) is going to be in Central Province, that polling station won't survive, we won't accept it. We won't even accept the results that are going to come from that polling station because as far as we are concerned, voting starts at 06:00 hours and closes at 18:00 hours," he said.

Meanwhile, Chali said two PF cadres died after a GRZ registered vehicle hit into a PF candidate's vehicle in Keembe Constituency.