UPND Threatens To Take PF To Court Over Sham Convention

The United Party for National Development (UPND) has threatened to take the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) to court on the grounds that its party convention last weekend did not comply with the rules on internal elections set out by the republican constitution.

The convention, which concluded on Sunday, saw President Lungu run unopposed to retain the party’s presidency. All 54 candidates for the party’s central committee - the PF’s highest decision-making body - were also appointed without any opposition. 

Now the UPND is claiming that the convention did not comply with the terms of the national constitution because it did not end in a proper vote, with committee candidates merely selected by President Lungu himself. 

UPND spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa has thus given the PF a 48 hour ultimatum to reconvene their convention and hold proper elections before pursuing legal action. 

Prior to the PF’s convention, both the party’s secretary general, Davies Mwila, and national chairman for mobilisation, Richard Musukwa, confirmed that no elections would be taking place.

“Elections! Which elections? There will be no voting this weekend. We will only be endorsing the list of names that will come from State House,” Mwila told reporters. 

The convention stands in stark contrast to the internal elections held by the UPND back in February - the first such elections to be held in Zambia by a major political party.

The opposition party conference was attended by over 5 million Zambians online and in-person, with 204,050 votes cast by 2,915 delegates across the country.

The conference saw a number of highly contested elections, with Mutale Nalumango only narrowly beating her rival Patrick Mucheleka for the position of national chairperson by just 31 votes.

The elections were overseen by the chair of the Independent Electoral Commission, Judith Mulenga, to ensure they met the proper requirements for intra-party elections.