AFRICA/ZAMBIA - Presidential and Parliamentary Elections: Bishops appeal to the consciences of candidates and voters

Tuesday, 10 August 2021 elections   bishops   violence  

Lusaka (Agenzia Fides) - Politicians "who incite violence in order to gain political or material advantage", "repent and turn away from evil", said His Exc. Mgr. Alick Banda, Archbishop of Lusaka, in his homily during the Sunday prayer for peace and security at the National House of Prayer construction site in Lusaka, in the presence of President Edgar Lungu.
In a climate of intense political and social tension, Zambia will hold parliamentary elections on August 12th. It is feared that protests by the defeated candidates could lead to clashes. In this regard, Bishop Banda stresses that only after the election results are announced will the true intentions of the various candidates become apparent: politicians who sincerely want to serve the nation should urge their followers to accept the result and move on, while those with selfish intentions will try to wreak havoc. "At the moment we still believe that all 16 presidential candidates have good reasons to serve the people. The selfish reasons will only become apparent when the outcome of the election is known", said the Archbishop of Lusaka.
A few days earlier, Bishop Evans Chinyama Chinyemba of Mongu had sent a video message calling on voters to "examine their conscience" and to keep an eye on the common good rather than their own interests: "Before you vote, ask yourself: how are my neighbors economically and socially doing? Each of you should not look to your own interests, but to the interests of others".
On August 12, the Zambians will elect the president, 156 members of parliament and 117 district council leaders. The outgoing President Edgar Lungu, who has been in office since 2015 after the death of his predecessor Michael Sata, is now showing increasingly autocratic tendencies. He is running for a controversial third term, which his opponents consider unconstitutional as he has already been elected twice, in the 2015 and 2016 parliamentary elections. The Constitutional Court turned down an opposition motion to ban a third mandate because Lungu's first term was only one year.
Suspicions have already been expressed that the electoral register has been manipulated to disadvantage the strongholds of the main opposition party, the United Party for National Development (UPND), led by Hakainde Hichilema who lost by just over 100,000 votes in 2016, election deemed incorrect by international observers.
Due to the tension and pre-election violence committed by vigilante gangs, the military has been deployed on the streets. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 10/8/2021)


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