FODEP JUSTIFIES REPORTING ZAMBIA TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOR POSSIBLE MALPRACTICE IN THE VOTER REGISTRATION EXERCISE
Michael Kaluba
The Foundation For Democratic Process -FODEP- has justified the need to report Zambia to the international community for possible malpractice during the voter registration exercise.
UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema is believed to have written the international community to come and verify the 2021 voter register citing malpractices among them, the reduced number of registered voters from southern province.
Reacting to this development, FODEP argues that Zambian citizens who are dissatisfied with domestic mechanisms for resolving internal governance issues including abuse of human rights, have every right to seek intervention from regional or international bodies such as SADC or the African Union among others.
FODEP Executive Director George Chimembe notes that the first optional protocol of the international governance, civil and political rights to which Zambia is party, allows individuals to petition to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, hence the move by the UPND President Hakainde Hichilema to write the International Community over the cite registration is in order.
And Mr. Chimembe tells Phoenix News that FODEP does not subscribe to assertions that the opposition has conceded defeat before the August polls further reminding those in the ruling party that Zambia is a multiparty democracy where citizens are free to enjoy their fundamental human rights.
PHOENIX NEWS