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'MILLIONS OF ELIGIBLE VOTERS DISENFRANCHISED IN THE 2008 ZAMBIAN PRESIDENTAL BY-ELECTIONS'Bold text

The President is dead and no voters will be registered …If you did not register in the 2006 Presidential General Elections then you can not vote in this Presidential By-elections says the people in power.

Zambia’s Voter gate

By Oliver Mupila- Zambian Think -Tank

“ Democracy can’t be built with the hands of broken souls” Now is the time for change for the New Breed for a New Zambia

Scenarios about the past 2008 Zambian presidential By-elections of the picture of what the situation looked like then and the outcome.

Scenario one

The President of Zambia is dead 19 August, 2008, there are political conflicts, violence  and misunderstandings  among the three major political parties namely MMD (the ruling party) PF   and UPND the opposition parties and are ready for the race to State House, in ninety days presidential By elections will be held to chose an other republican President in according with Article 39 (1) of the Constitution of Zambia and the MMD government has set 30th October, 2008 as the elections day, within the ninety days all the Political Parties and Presidential Candidates are to Subscribe to the Electoral Code of Conduct 2006 statutory instrument No. 90 of 2006. The Electoral Act ,. Act No. 12 0f 2006.

Every candidate for presidential, National Assembly and Local government elections shall, when filling nomination papers , subscribe to the Code in Form ECC1 set out in the Schedule.

Scenario two

The MMD government publishes and distributes notices and advertisements nation-wide, telling the millions of eligible voters that no one will be allowed to vote in the 2008 presidential By-election (disenfranchised) if one did not register in the 2006 presidential and general elections of 2006, which does not make sense in a civilized world and in these modern times. The Electoral Code of Code 2006, statutory instrument No. 90 of 2006. The Electoral Act No. 12 of 2006, regulation number 6 (1) the Rights of Every Person  (a) to (I) are not allowed to be exercised in 2008 Presidential By-elections

Zambia’s 2008 unscheduled residential By-Elections and the millions of eligible disenfranchised eligible voters, due to the death of President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa. SC on 19 August, 2008. About four million seven hundred eligible voters are disenfranchised. Out of the above number of  one  million Seven hundred thousand eligible had lost their 2006 voters cards and needed to be replaced.

Scenario three

30th October, 2008 is election day, who will vote ? 3,944 ,135 are registered voters in the 2008 based on the 2006  electoral records of  3,941,229 registered voters. Take a look at the 2006 figures which is 3,941,229 registered voters and the 2008 figures which is 3,944,135 “registered voters”, (source of information Electoral Commission of Zambia 2008). You will come to find out that the MMD government did register an extra  2, 906  voters  which was added to the 3,944,135 which came to the total of 3,941,229 of total registered voters in the year 2008. The question is where did the 2,906 extra voters come from when millions of eligible voters were disenfranchised ? Why were the 4 ,700,000 electorate disenfranchised ? Why did the MMD government not follow the Constitution of the land? What does the 2008 Zambian presidential By-election reflect among these millions of  voters who where disenfranchised when they come to learn about the whole truth ? These are scenarios that tells about the Zambian “Voter gate”, these are scenarios that tells us that the future of the Zambian politics is crucial.

Scenario four

By November, 2008 , the MMD government and it’s leadership are back in power, the master minders of the disenfranchisement have several resources at hand to get away with the scam, below are the results of the elections. What is the state of democracy in the current situation if assessment is made now with the four different paintings of the future and an understanding of functions of political parties in a democracy like this one.

Four (4) essential questions have to be answered:

1. What will the situation of the MMD government be like in some time to come? 2. What will it be like for the MMD in the coming 2011 presidential  general elections? 3.What are the appropriate answers MMD will give to the electorate about the 2008 disenfranchisement of millions of eligible voters? 4. Can the electorate trust the MMD government in 2011?

Presidential By-elections were held on 30th October, 2008 in terms of the Constitution of Zambia, 1996, Article 39 (1) parts of the Electoral Act were overlooked by the MMD government

The 2008 Presidential election results Source : Electoral Commission of Zambia 2008

VOTING SATTISTICS

	Registered voters - 3 944 135. Note : no voters were registered in 2008 	Registered Voters in 2006 - 3 941 229. Note : no Voters were registered in 2008 - but were did the 2, 906 registered voters  come from in 2008 when no one was registered? Remove the 2006 registered voters of 3 941 229 from  3 944 135 it will give you an extra of   2, 906 of registered voters in 2008. How was that done ? Zambians will soon come to know that is was all a scam  not credible at all (Voter gate) we could looking at another Kenya this time in Zambia. Who started it? The people in power ( MMD government did it. 	What happened was not legal, they MMD government did not follow the Constitution, they did not follow the electoral legislation, so they just had to make up their own electoral system in order to disenfranchise millions of eligible voters and made up the extra 2,906 illegal voters to win the election 	Disenfranchised/Unregistered voters - 4 700 000 Note: 3 000 000 disenfranchised & 1 700 000 whose cards were lost and were not replaced 	Votes cast in 2008 - 1 791 806 	Votes cast in 2008 by ghost voters 2,906 	Voters whose cards where lots between 2006 & 2008 - 1 500 000 	Votes cast by the disenfranchised/Unregistered voters in 2008 - Zero (0)                     	Voter turnout in 2008 - 45.43 	Valid votes in 2008 - 1 768 210 	Invalid votes in 2008 - 23 596 	% Invalid   in 2008- 1.32

RESULTS

1.	Candidate  -  Rupiah Banda - Party -MMD - Votes 718 359  - % Votes  40.63 2.	Candidate  -  Michael MC. Sata - Party PF - Votes 683 150 - % 38.64 3.	Candidate  -  Hakainde Michaela - Party - UPND Votes  353 018 - % 19.96 4.	Candidate  -  Godfrey K. Miranda - HP - Votes 13 683 - % 0.77

Unscheduled Zambian Presidential By-elections - A vehicle for disenfranchising millions of eligible voters or tempering with the Constitution?

A Presidential By- election was held in Zambia due to the death of a sitting president on 19 August, 2008. I need, one of the key functions of democratic elections is to clarify where the diving lines between competing political force lie. A President is dead, when an unscheduled presidential By-elections erupts with political conflicts about who should be the next president and during the electoral campaigns or in the aftermath of the presidential By-elections , is easy to believe that the By -election was at the root of the conflict of political power and not for the common person, despite the results of the By-election and the evident future risks of the disenfranchising of the millions of eligible voters and tempering with the constitution and the will of the people will be reignited in the heat and passion of the contest of power in the coming presidential and general elections of 2011, elections are , for better of for worse, an essential step in  the process of reconstituting political change and order after an election. The many key functions of elections in helping manage a nation to avoid political and social conflict are:

	Generating legitimacy: Free and fair elections produce a legitimate government and leaders that are more likely to manage conflict positively than illegitimate ones, for elections to be free and fair and produce a credible result the body organizing the elections needs to have independence, integrity and professionalism 	Choosing real representatives: A good electoral process is one which allows it’s citizens to determine how diverse interests in society are reflected in representation. Quality representation is key to construction bargaining among society’s diverse interests and communities, unlike what happened in the past 2008 Zambian presidential By-election. If political life is all about ;the winner takes it all” democracy may be undermined over time by polarization and potentially conflict, recall or at best by public dissatisfaction and disenfranchisement of millions of voters. The way electoral and political institutions and processes and designed have immense importance, in politically ethnically divide Zambian leadership, for example , it is particularly important that the political process is designed in a way that offers meaningful engagement for the , group interests and needs. eligible voter, group interests and needs. In Zambia as in other nations, electoral systems and political institutions have been shaped by traditions of former colonial powers or leaders rather than by considerations of national realities. 	Providing political choice: Election help to establish what issues are laid before the community. If political parties like the MMD and its government clearly articulate their policy priorities, elections then will provide the forum for the Zambian people as citizens to have a choice on how to resolve their most urgent political and social problems. Too often the people in power tend to focus on maximizing their share of the nation’s resources, instead of taking a greater role in aggregating and restrictions on the ability of their electorate to be registered , so as the vote in the presidential By-election will only impede the effective functioning of the government and it’s leadership , but also undermine the conditions for holding  free and fair elections while disenfranchising millions of voters, the essential role of a free and free electorate is a case in point. 	Voters rights : Because legitimate rule is based on the will of the people. It is imperative that each eligible voter gets a voter’s card and each vote and each person’s voice or view is heard equally in any election or election day, that was not the case in the past Zambian presidential By-election. Restrictive participation regimes for elections ( Zambia’s presidential By-election), such as in voter’s rights and registration policies, limit’s the exercise of the people’s voice.

Simply watching the people in government and having the above functions work is not sufficient to prevent or mitigate a recall in this case as contended above, conflicts may be election - related, but not necessarily induced by elections. While it may be possible that conflicts are provoked by questions related to the past 2008 presidential By-election delimitations and disputes over electoral results. This smorgasbord of factors coupled with flaws in the electoral system is to an extent what will provoke the coming presidential general elections in 2011. Responding to these complexities is a responsibility of both domestic and international actors and it is precisely these challenges that we must face up in order to ensure that efforts for peace, stability and proper democracy are mutually reinforced.

Zambia is a republic with a population of about 11 million people,  over 3 million  people were  eligible  to vote in the past presidential By-elections or became of age since the last general elections that took place in 2006 , but were told by the MMD government not to vote, followed by  a number of Ad’s from the Electoral Commission of Zambia a national election agency that is accountable to the MMD government. This agency is in charge of administering elections and complying and maintaining a national voter roll and caring out the registration of eligible voters.

The Electoral Commission conducted massive Ad’s on TV, radio, newspapers, but none was done on voter registration drives over the course of the designated ninety days were conducted. Over the ninety days till the election day 30 October, 2008, more than 3 million people could not be registered to vote in the By-election due to the death of the president Mwanawasa on 19 August, 2008. Unscheduled presidential elections were held were held in October 2008 in terms of the constitution of Zambia of the constitution of Zambia. 1996. Article 36 (1).

Over 3 million eligible citizens were disenfranchised - which means that the franchise or special right or privilege granted by the Constitution of Zambia of, Electoral ACT No. 12 of 2006 .115 , Part(s) 3.16, 19, 31. Part 5. 59, 60. Part 7. 88.Part 10. Thus the people’s right to vote, suffrage was removed by the MMD government due to a presidential By-election, but that is not what the law of the land says. The concern here is why did the MMD government use a mechanisms that is not appropriate with the Constitution of Zambia Electoral ACT NO. 12 of 2006 115 to enhance democratic systems, by disenfranchising millions of  eligible voters not to directly make the decision making processes. Did the 2008 Zambian presidential By-election allow eligible participation for eligible voters?

Did the MMD government eligible voters the opportunity to be registered for the presidential By-election?

Does the Zambian Electoral Act under the Constitution of Zambia allow eligible voters to be disenfranchised why there is a presidential By election?

Does the Constitution of Zambia allow the people in power (MMD government) to initiate their own laws of disenfranchising citizens when there is a presidential By - election?

Does the 2008 Zambian presidential By election reflect the will of the people ?

The criteria or mechanisms act by which  the presidential By-elections  took place as a component of a democratic system might be  judged, the discipline on the behavior of those who masterminded the people of Zambia , levels of participation and engagement of levels of satisfaction with the democratic system at hand. The MMD government did not do it’s work to register millions of eligible voters or expand the franchise, to ensure that every eligible Zambian voted in the 2008 presidential  By-election and that the voters rights for those youths who turned 18 years after the last presidential and tripartite elections of 2006 , not forgetting those who lost their voters cards , which need to be replaced and those Zambian’s who were living overseas or were out for  studies and were back home and ready to vote.

The MMD government did not provide any legal means assistance to help millions of eligible voters to get the registered, no voter registration system was included , thus allowing the eligible electorate not to vote on whether to end the MMD government’s term of office or elect them back to office in a specific political , constitutional or legislative mechanism. There was no direct democracy during the 2008 Zambian presidential By -election, the thing is the use of direct democracy is usually contrasted with wider use of representative democracy, voters choose which candidate and parties they want to elect to make decisions on their behalf. Conversely, that was not the case in the past 2008 presidential By-elections. The Zambian people need an explanation from the MMD government.

In September 2008 a letter that was written to the office of the Secretary to the Cabinet of the Zambian government (MMD) before the  October, 2008 presidential By - elections  to see if at all they would find  a solution to the mess that they were bring on and until now no answer has been  issued. Millions of eligible voters were disenfranchised and left out in the dark without any explanation.

Zambia’s new need a democracy that needs accountability and sustainable strong political leaders and a government with the capacity to represent citizens and provide policy that demonstrate the ability to govern for public good, As defined above, we can not be lead by people who are not able to tell the truth, who can you disenfranchise millions of eligible voters? The Zambian people do not want a government or leaders with personality vehicle for self-aggrandizement of fake charismatic leaders without democratic internal structures that seeks a constituency  among citizens and strive to disenfranchise it’s people  without accountability and lawful behavior. You can not steal the people’s right to vote just like that no way. Zambian’s need a credible election and a democratic governance, you know what “democracy can’t be built of the hands of broken souls”, Over 3 million souls have been broken by the people in power who have failed to adhere to democratic principles. In these modern  times you can not handle people like animals. In today world, poor leadership and mismanagement of the nation’s laws and the trust of people can not be allowed. Over the years, till now the MMD government uses opportunistic agents to destroy and terrorize those who expose their political mismanagement and their ruthless commitment to evil against the people who put them in power. How can you do that?

We the people have called in questions that the past presidential By -election had a lot of misdeeds, mismanagement and political torture on the Zambian people that has been going on since 2008 presidential By-elections, we need an explanation, you can not govern a nation  like a “pig market”,  Where is the government? Where is the accountability? Where is the leadership? Where is the people’s right to vote ? And where is the democracy? “You can not put down democracy it will put you when you do eventually”, Put up democracy and you will be put. Politics for the many politically tortured Zambians is hostile territory. Now is the time for the majority people who were disenfranchised to find it’s political voice. The MMD government has no explanation to give to the people who over the years put them in power to explain to them about what happened over the disenfranchisement of the 2008 presidential By-elections This is a “ Breach of trust“, the people need to know. Zambia is no “Pig market “ at all, Since the MMD government was established by a number of drug lords and smugglers, in the past years they have been in power, their poison has seep into virtually every hungry Zambian via a web like distribution system in the name of “ democracy” that flourishes under the noses of the “yes sir officers” and it’s corrupted whole system.

The MMD government has extolled the psychic and political thinking of the Zambian hungry people with more harm than good, ironically, the MMD government and it’s thugs along with their privileged family members and associates , were the first to succumb , most of their children  are ruining multi-million businesses and a number of them study outside the country , while the rest of the Zambian kids can not go to school within the country. The most tragic victims are children whose parents have dead with HI/AIDS.

Over the years in the final stages of the “ Zambian political plague” a lot of political fights and formations of political parties, MMD members broke up lots of times, since 1999 most of the MMD members became addicts of fake political leadership and outright became susceptible to poor leadership an infectious disease of which they unwittingly spread across the country. At that point in time the good nation with it’s industrious great and peaceful people have so withered with hunger and have fallen victim to the same recycled fake politicians and poorer leadership mentality of being ruled by the same people that is not right - there’re wrong and the people are right.

Millions of Zambians who understand what democracy is sense a danger, a loose of control, an erosion of life and democracy. The Zambian people have been pushed beyond endurance. The present government has closed it’s doors to the people who put them in power over the years. That is why we are now declaring an “ unstinting commitment as a people by forming a government that will invest in it’s people by being accountable and keeping the promise to follow the rules and laws of the land with legitimacy, transparency and accountability.

Anyone who will read this paper Zambian or not will be keenly aware of the conflicts and tensions of poor governance which surround the idea disenfranchising millions of eligible voters in these modern times. The clash between emphasis on the 2008 disenfranchisement and MMD governmental Performance and accountability restraints on the MMD leadership  scum has been observable by concerned Zambian citizens like me and the rest since September 2008 and it is high time that the rest of world should know in order to solve the problem at hand. But this conflict is nowhere more likely, more intense than it seems to look, this can only be resolved in a democracy like ours, by having the MMD government voted out of office. Why? The root case, is that the MMD government disenfranchised millions of people in the past presidential By -elections.

We as a people that have been disenfranchised are committed to the defense of the nation’s constitution, freedom , democracy and the reduction of political violence ,torture and poverty through the use of the constitution and nonviolence action by forming a government in 2011, a government with the voter in mind, a government that will not steal from it’s own people by playing politics of terror  and dealing with terrorist kind of leadership. Our goal are to tell the Zambian people the truth about what happened about the disenfranchisement and scum of the 2008 presidential By-elections, we are also aiming at bring life to the Zambian people who have been victimized and traumatized  by the MMD government in the past presidential By-elections, we going just to keep democracy alive without fake deals or fake leadership. We the people will detach ourselves from the politics of cheating that has long since been going on since the recycled politicians went into power, as a people and concerned citizens of a civilized world we are so angry about the stagnant, hopeless leadership produced by the MMD government.

Every Zambian at home and abroad knows what is means to be fooled by the same people for a long time.

Work with public purpose and accountability is the genius of the ‘New Breed leadership for a New Zambia“, remember that” without guidance do a people fall and the deliverance is in the multitude of counselors”, We have had bad leaders  who can not be counseled, as such We the people who have been the counselors will have a more able leadership, most brilliant , most constructive that will make the New Zambia rise, Our price as a people is to save as a vehicle for good governance that follows the constitution of the land and it’s laws for the good of all the people, we as good counselors we have the immediate truth to tell to all democratic and free thinkers. You know democracy requires a certain optimism concerning mankind. The best argument for democracy is the existence of men who justify that optimism. It follows that that one of the best ways to save democracy is to be that kind of a government that will never disenfranchise it’s citizens  where there is a presidential By-election. As the MMD government has lost it’s path and true meaning of care for the Zambian electorate, so too will the Zambian people lose interest in it’s poor leadership. The New Breed of leadership in the New Zambia is very critical for rebuilding civic capacity 2011. Regenerating this civic muscle requires the support of all those who have been victimized by the fake politics, that is only when we as a people reclaim democracy with public purpose.

We want peace with justice, we want a nation with it’s citizens that does not live under the fear of politics, a nation of people that acknowledges the rule of law, a nation in which on person is bully and no person living in fear. We as a people of Zambia and concerned citizens we do no think that man was born to have someone else’s foot on his neck or someone’s hand over his mouth. We want a nation were freedom is possible to all not to a few people in power and their families. We the people believe in the dignity and worth of the individual Zambian and it’s our unshakeable purpose for us to speak out, to govern , protect and preserve the dignity of our nation and it’s people. We also believe that every Zambian should be enabled to achieve the best that is in him and we are the declared enemies of all conditions, such as the disenfranchisement by the MMD government, the none accountability of the nation’s worth, ignorance or poverty, which stunt the Zambian people and prevent democratic fulfillments. The Zambian Electorate believes in equality before the law, equal political suffrage and the dearest of all to Zambians - equality of opportunity.

The above does not exhaust the people’s will. But there is enough to demonstrate the possibility of formulating aims on which hundreds of thousands of Zambians will agree. In the above pages we are offering nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments and common sense and have on other preliminaries to settle with reader, that he/she will divest him/herself of prejudice and prepossession and his/her reason and his/her feelings to deeming for themselves, that as Zambians will put on or rather that we will not put off the true character of a Zambian and generously enlarge our views beyond the present day poor leadership in Zambia. Volumes have been talked about on many subjects since the MMD government took over in 1992. Politicians of all ranks the living and dead have embarked in some controversy of some kind from different parties and motives and with various designs, but all have been ineffectual , while keeping the people blind and failed to provide democracy to the Zambian people.

Now is the seed time for a “New Breed of leadership for a New Zambia”, to take over, time of the people, faith and honor , no more cheating, no more disenfranchisements and no more the same people in leadership…it’s has been to long. A new era for politics is struck, a new method of thinking has risen, as Zambians, we can have no joy, knowing the MMD government is not sufficiently lasting to ensure anything we as a people who have been scammed may bequeath to posterity and a plain method of arguments , as we are going to be running the next government based on the constitution in 2011 without debts. We doing the work now, so that we do not want them meanly and pitifully. In order to discover the power of the people rightly, we need to tell the people the truth about the 2008 scam presidential By-elections of disenfranchising millions of eligible voters, we should take back the country and fire the bad leadership and fix our Zambian way of living further for our children and their children’s life in the years to come.

Though we the people would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offence, yet we are as a people are inclined to believe, that all those espouse the doctrine of having the same people in power for a long time, may be included within the following descriptions, interested men and women , who are not trusted , weak men  can not see that there was a disenfranchisement in the 2008 presidential By -elections, these are people who will not see and are a certain set of gangs who think better of the MMD government than the people of Zambia deserve and the last  MMD government  presidential By-elections by ill-judged deliberation, is the cause of calamities to the Zambian people than before.

MMD is guilty of the many counts of obstruction of justice starting from the crimes committed by the founder president of MMD F.JT Chiluba and many, many other matters because they are complicit in the crimes. We can no longer deal with recycled fake politicians any more it is over. Please you have the permission to cite, add or quote and distribute this organizing resource to all our brothers and sisters who need change in the New Zambia. Do not forget the 2011 is coming so is the New Breed for a New Zambia. Thank you.

We are concerned are now? Our email: Zambiaconcerned@yahoo.com