Lessons from by-elections
Published On July 1, 2015 » 1701 Views» By Administrator Times » Latest News, Stories
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THERE are various valuable lessons which can be drawn from the June 30, 2015 parliamentary by-elections which were held in three constituencies.
Myriad are also the inferences which can be made in reaction to the aggregate outcome of the elections in the three different districts, depending on where one stands.
Firstly, it is regrettable that human blood was shed in one of the constituencies during the campaign period.
As political party leaders reflect on the outcome of these elections, they should resolve never to tolerate political violence of any kind even under extreme provocation.
The degeneration of the political violence into the use of firearms and spillage of human blood is unZambian and not in the interest of democracy.
Any leader who is ready to shed blood just to get a position is not fit for that position and should be consigned to prison, where he/she belongs.
Politically, there are more lessons than one for those who care to learn to draw from these elections which were held a few months before the 2016 ward, parliamentary and presidential elections.
One should not be faulted for assuming that these elections have, somehow, set the tone for the 2016 general elections, especially in the three districts involved.
For the ruling Patriotic Front (PF), which has gotten the three seats from the opposition to maintain its more-than-50-per cent-plus-one majority in terms of the total Parliamentary seats, the victory means hard work.
The party needs to work hard to maintain its stay at the political summit of this country, knowing that the challenge from the opposition in 2016 could be fiercer.
Unlike the opposition, the PF’s major responsibility is to continue delivering development to the electorate for it to maintain, or even raise the popularity in the country.
The ruling party has no luxury of time and, therefore, the less its leaders talk to concentrate on work, the more they are likely to score more economic successes to ensure the party lives up to the people’s ever-rising expectations.
For the opposition, particularly the former ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and the United Party for National Development (UPND), which have lost at least a seat each, it is time for deep reflection.
The MMD might not have taken part in the by-elections but it has lost its two precious seats, the Pateuke Central and Malambo Parliamentary constituencies, both in Eastern Province.
The question is; was the party going to win if it had contested the two seats? How was it going to perform given the internal wrangling which has been going on for some time?
For the UPND, which lost the Mulobezi seat to the ruling party, the question is, what has gone wrong?
Can the party, which grabbed the Mulobezi Parliamentary seat from the MMD in 2011, reclaim its seat next year?
What could be the reason or reasons for this loss? Is it, perhaps, that the party is losing the grip in areas which were considered its strongholds following the 2011 general elections?
Or is it that the PF is becoming stronger politically, given the development projects which are going on in various parties of the country and with the ascendance of President Edgar Lungu to both Republican and PF presidency?
What message did the PF leaders preach, which could have endeared it to the electorate in the three constituencies?
Given another chance will the opposition tailor their campaign messages differently so as to capture the support of the people in similar fashion?
For the general citizenry, the major lesson from any poll is that elections are just a mere mechanism for the people to pick their representatives.
It is not a matter of life and death.
Therefore, there is need to co-exist and foster companionship across the political divides for the betterment of the country.

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