UPND Backs Resumed Results Process, Says No Place for Violence

The United Party for National Development (UPND) has welcomed the Electoral Commission of Zambia's announcement that the results process will resume, commending the Commission for its handling of a difficult situation.

In a statement issued in Lusaka on Friday, Hon. Mulambo Haimbe, SC, a member of the party's National Management Committee, praised the ECZ for keeping the nation informed and said it must now be allowed to complete its constitutional mandate of collation, verification and announcement without interference, obstruction or pressure from any quarter.

He urged Zambians to remain calm and patient as the work continued, repeating the party's position that "the UPND has declared nothing and will declare nothing," and that only the Commission could announce the outcome of the election.

Mr Haimbe was emphatic that there was no place for violence in the country's democracy. Zambians had conducted the election peacefully and with dignity, he said, and nothing should be allowed to stain that achievement now. Whatever passions the moment stirred, they must be expressed peacefully and within the law.

Anyone who resorted to violence or intimidation, he added, did not act in the name of any party or candidate but "only against Zambia."

He noted that the region and the wider world were watching, and that what they had seen so far was a democracy of which every Zambian could be proud. Mr Haimbe called on the nation to "finish as we began," with peace, patience and confidence in its institutions.