Forum for Democracy and Development

PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROPOSED NOMINATION FEES FOR ASPIRING CANDIDATES FOR 2021 GENERAL ELECTIONS ARE OUTRAGEOUS AND MUST FALL:

17th June 2020.

Ndola-Forum for Democracy and Democracy(FDD) strongly opposes the proposed nomination fees set by the Electoral Commission of Zambia(ECZ) for the 2021 general elections which we feel are outrageous because they will disadvantage a lot of Zambians especially the young people and women and we are wondering since when the electoral body became a business generating venture when it is funded by tax payers money.?

Further where are the school leavers and the women who are the most vulnerable in society going to get such amounts of money in order for them to participate in the country’s electoral process if they intend to exercise their fundamental right by aspiring to contest as councillors and members of parliament respectively in the midst of high levels of unemployment and poverty in the country.

It is in light of the foregoing that we are in full support of the position taken by the Patroitic Front(PF) and commend them for rejecting the proposed nomination fees because politics should not be the preserve of the rich and as such the Electoral Commission of Zambia should immediately reverse these fees downwards because there are tantamount to auctioning the country to the highest bidder and an assault on our young democracy.

Therefore the Electoral Commision of Zambia(ECZ) should come up with nomination fees which are reasonable and make sense and agreeable to political stakeholders so that the majority of Zambians are not prevented from aspiring for public office in the next year’s general elections.

Issued by:

Yotam Mtayachalo
FDD party Spokesperson

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here