Women’s Lobby applauds ECZ

The Zambia National Women’s Lobby has applauded the Electoral Commission of Zambia under the leadership of Justice Irene Mambilima for ensuring that the presidential election was conducted within the confines of the Electoral Act.
In a preliminary statement on the election held on 20th January,ZNWL Board Chairperson Beauty Katebe says this was despite being faced with a lot of logistical challenges owing to the bad weather and difficult terrain in most rural places.

Ms Katebe has since urged the ECZ to use this election as a test case for 2016 and address all the existing gaps if the next election is to be truly free and fair.

She says the Women’s Lobby further applauds the Zambia Police under the leadership of Inspector General Stella Libongani for the professional conduct of the Police throughout this election period.

Ms Katebe says her organisation observed that the police stuck to their role of maintaining law and order during the election and never interfered in the election in any way.

She adds that the ZNWL strongly recommends that the newPresident considers, as a matter of urgency, the enactment of the draft Constitution as this is the only way to ensure that the challenges currently faced by the ECZ can be addressed.

Ms Katebe says the Women’s Lobby also applauds the Zambian people for continuing to uphold the peace that the nation has enjoyed for the past 50 years and urge every well-meaning Zambian to refuse to be used as tools of violence in the aftermath of this election.