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{
    "id": 1120591,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1120591/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 40,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Kasanga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13185,
        "legal_name": "Sylvia Mueni Kasanga",
        "slug": "sylvia-mueni-kasanga"
    },
    "content": "increased spate of violence prompted the deployment of the military for the first time during an electoral process. Mr. Speaker, Sir, elections in Zambia are held every five years on the second Thursday of August. Therefore, the elections took place on Thursday, 12th August, 2021. Sixteen candidates contested the presidential election, but the political landscape was dominated by two major political parties; the PF led by the then incumbent President Edgar Lungu and the UPND led by Hakainde Hichilema. This is the second time in a row the two candidates competed against each other for the presidency. Eight hundred and ten candidates contested for 156 out of 167 seats of the National Assembly. At the local level, 420 candidates contested for mayoral seats and as municipal council chairpersons. Elections were held for the 116 district councils and for councilors in over 1,600 wards. The voter turnout was at 70.6 per cent, translating to a total of 4,959,000 cast out of a total registered 7,023,000 votes, with the opposition leader and presidential candidate of the United Party for National Development (UPND), hon. Hakainde Hichilema, securing 2.8 million votes and the incumbent, President Edgar Lungu who secured 1.8 million votes. Although the election infrastructure in Zambia is largely manual, the electoral process was found to be efficient. Most polling stations opened and closed on time. The fuse of Integrated Election Management System (IEMS) kits was witnessed in only one centre. The Electoral Commission of Zambia was well organized. The electoral process was generally managed in an orderly manner. Mr. Speaker, Sir, some of the lessons that we can borrow from Zambia are such as: - (1) It is crucial to engage swift diplomatic interventions in enabling state power transfer and to unlock, shape and catalyze electoral democratization processes. Behind the scenes, Zambia’s fourth President, hon. Ruphia Banda, former President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, and the former President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, engaged President Edgar Lungu and Mr. Hichilema to facilitate a peaceful democratic transition. They did not wait for a formal Southern African Development Community (SADC) team once the former President Edgar Lungu and his team signaled their dissatisfaction with the results that were trickling in. (2) In Zambia, access to the voter register is made readily available to the election officials and party agents. Therefore, the verification process of voters upon entry into the polling stations is done thoroughly by all the parties, thus mitigating against incidences of rigging. Additionally, the voter register contains the registration details of the voter and photos of each voter. (3) It is important to invest in independent institutions that outlast political parties or formations. In the case of Zambia, the army did not engage in the political shenanigans that were taking place."
}