Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Veteran politician Vernon Mwaanga has observed that electoral violence in Zambia is preventable.
In his recent paper on solutions to curb political violence, Dr. Mwaanga has suggested that the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) can play a role in preventing electoral violence if it stops being seen to be secretive in managing the electoral process.
Vernon Mwaanga
Dr. Mwaanga says the ECZ must be seen to be open and transparent at every stage of its work and invite stakeholders to observe its work throughout the election process.
He states that this can only give added confidence to all the participants and stakeholders about the fairness of the process.
Dr. Mwaanga has suggested that the other additional measures which can be taken by others to complement measures of political parties to prevent election violence is for the government taking immediate steps to amend the Electoral Act and give the ECZ the power to punish parties or candidates who break the Electoral Code of Conduct.
He notes that this punishment should include fines and where necessary, disqualification of party candidate involved in or advocating violence during elections.
Dr. Mwaanga adds that government should further amend the Public Order Act to remove the abusive and unfair interpretation of that law by the police so that the electoral playing field is leveled for all the participants and not just for those in the ruling party.