THE call by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) chairperson Ireen Mambilima for the Patriotic Front (PF) and United Party for National Development (UPND) to tame their cadres is timely, especially now that the country is anxiously waiting for the presidential election results.
It is not anything to hide that the pockets of violence experienced in the run-up to Tuesday’s election has been between the two major political parties that have incidentally emerged as the front-runners in the poll.
The peace Zambia continues to enjoy should not be taken for granted.
In the tense and volatile situation Zambia finds herself in during this crucial election period, irresponsible acts both in speech and deed must not be tolerated.
Whose interests are the alarmists serving? Party cadres may not be as patient as their top leaders. We feel the leaders have a role to play in schooling their supporters to exercise maximum restraint.
Leaders of political parties must educate their supporters about the need to co-exist in a democratic dispensation. Most importantly, there must be calm during this important period of the electoral process.
The credibility of electoral process is undoubted. Many organisations that sent observers to Zambia have appreciated the peaceful manner in which the electorate voted, counting and the subsequent announcement of results.
It is surprising that the decision by ECZ to temporarily suspend the announcement of results was met with resistance. Even the delayed voting in some parts of the country should not be blamed on the ECZ.
The commission should be insulated from blame on how the weather panned out on polling day. Like Acting President Guy Scott alluded to after casting his ballot at the Lusaka Golf Club, it was within the law that the election was to be held within 90 days after the death of President Michael Sata.
The fact that the election date fell on a day within the rainy season is beyond the ECZ. But from the mistrust characterised by the accusations and counter-accusations from its stakeholders, it appears party cadres are flogging the wrong horse.
If you factor in the challenges ECZ goes through, the delay by some constituencies to start voting or the results and the announcement of result is an unforeseen circumstance that the commission should not be blamed for.
The ECZ chairperson has repeatedly belaboured the point about the Parallel Voter Tabulation (PVT) results being circulated by several stakeholders that it is only the commission that is mandated to release the results.
The sooner cadres begin to realise that only the ECZ has the mandate to release official results the better. Whatever is coming out of the PVT compilations by other organisations is speculative and could be misleading.
It is little wonder ECZ has described some PVT outlets as being mischief makers. PVT is the modern way of compiling results electronically but as long as the commission continues to use the manual tabulation system, PVT remains speculative.
Some of the results being circulated could be authentic given that the organisations conducting PVT have got agents at polling stations countrywide. Nevertheless, the results being released by the ECZ are the only authentic results. For now no president has been declared.
We feel the ECZ is doing a commendable job under very difficult circumstances. Other stakeholders should actually be helping to make the commission’s work easier instead of antagonising the officers in the process of service delivery.  OPINION