Zambia’s faith in democracy is being tested by the failure of successive leaders to entrench democratic norms while in office, political analysts and civic organisations said on the eve of the country’s fourth multiparty elections, the UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) reports Tuesday.
There are signs of a growing impatience among the electorate since Zambia emerged from 27 years of one-party rule under founding President Kenneth Kaunda in 1991 and embraced multiparty democracy, because people have yet to taste the fruits of democracy, political analysts said.
Beatrice Mwanda, a resident in the capital, Lusaka, said 15 years of democracy had not changed things much. “When we were voting to remove Kaunda from office, we thought everything would be plain sailing, but it is more of the same. The only difference is that we are having many candidates to choose from in an election, instead of Kaunda standing against a frog or a wheelbarrow … there are no jobs and no money.”
The frog symbolised a ‘no’ vote against Kaunda on the ballot paper during one-party rule.
Lee Habasonda, executive director of the Southern African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD), a regional good governance watchdog, said, “We have made a lot of progress in the way we conduct our elections, but it is sad that all our political leaders have been shying away from undertaking fundamental changes, especially in the area of constitutional reforms, to protect their own tenure in office.”
According to Habasonda, “We have failed to move forward as a country in terms of democratic governance, because of such behaviour by our leaders.”
Nearly 4 million of the 5.5 million eligible voters have registered to cast their ballots in presidential, parliamentary and local government polls on 28 September, held under a set of new and improved voting laws.
For the first time voters will see the use of transparent ballot boxes to allay fears of vote-rigging; finger-printing to tackle voter fraud; a ban on political parties using public money for campaigning purposes; checks aimed at eliminating biased coverage by the state-run media; and a heavier reliance on computer technology for speedier publication of results.
Læs mere på
www.irinnews.org
