Kasenengwa By-election Looms

50 days ago the Kasenengwa parliamentary seat became vacant following the death of area Member of Parliament and Gender Minister Victoria Kalima. With the constitution requiring a by-election to be held within 90 days and at least 30 days required for campaigns, time is now running tight.

Meanwhile, other parliamentary seats that were long since nullified by the courts still await final appeal ruling, including those of Minister of Finance Margaret Mwanakatwe and Nkandu Luo.

Statement by Macdonald Chipenzi on Kasenengwa:

"Tomorrow Marks 50 days since the Kasenengwa seat fell vacant on June 11, 2018 following the death of PF MP and Minister of Gender, Victoria Kalima.

Constitutionally, the Bye-election is supposed to be held within 90 days which must run from June 11 to September 11, 2018.

This means that only 40 days are remaining to holding this bye election.

If we subtract 30 days campaign period which comes after nomination, ECZ has only 10 days to announce the date for this bye-election and organise and announce the nomination day.

By 11 September, 2018, the 90 Days would be over and will be unconstitutional to organise such a Bye-election unless the Speaker dictated a different date other than the day Hon Kalima died as the date when the vacancy fell due.

The question is why has it taken long to announce a date for the Kasenengwa?"