What Happens In An Election Re-run?

JACK ZIMBA, Lusaka
ON JANUARY 2, 2002, at a low-key ceremony at State House, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa was sworn-in as Zambia’s fourth President after being declared winner in a closely contested election that had a record 11 presidential candidates. But there was a problem.
Although the candidate for the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), in power at the time, had won the election, he had only managed 28.7 percent of the total vote, while his closest rival, Anderson Mazoka of the United Party for National Development (UPND) got 26.8 percent.
The rest of the votes were shared among nine candidates, including Michael Sata of the newly formed Patriotic Front, who got 3.4 percent.
This meant that although he had been given the mandate to preside over the affairs of the nation, Dr Mwanawasa had been rejected by over 70 percent of the voters across the country. Discontentment was high in the election aftermath, resulting in violent protests, especially in Lusaka and on the Copperbelt.
President Mwanawasa would spend much of his tenure trying to consolidate his legitimacy as President. His election had also been petitioned in court by the losing candidates, citing serious irregularities.
Dr Mwanawasa was widely viewed as a lame-duck President hand-picked by his predecessor Frederick Chiluba and imposed on Zambians, although he would later get a hold on power.
By 2006, Dr Mwanawasa had improved on his popularity rate and managed to secure himself a second term in office after polling 43 percent in the general elections the same year.
Since the advent of multiparty democracy in Zambia in 1991, only Dr Chiluba has been able to win a majority vote.
In the 1991 elections, Dr Chiluba polled 76 percent to win the presidency and ended Kenneth Kaunda’s 27-year rule.
And in the 1996 elections, which were boycotted by the main opposition party, United National Independence Party (UNIP), Dr Chiluba won 72.5 percent of the vote, followed distantly by Dean Mung’omba of the Zambia Democratic Congress. But the elections were also characterised by apathy, with only 58 percent voter turnout.
Even Mr Sata, who was a populist leader and swept to power by what seemed like a landslide victory reminiscent of a revolution, did not receive more than 50 percent of the vote. He got 41 percent to beat the incumbent Rupiah Banda, who got 38 percent.
The current President, Edgar Lungu, received 48.3 Percent of the votes in an election called after the death of Mr Sata in October 2014. His closest rival, UPND’s Hakainde Hichilema got 46.7 Percent, while nine other candidates shared the rest.
Transparency International Zambia president Lee Habasonda says it is unlikely that this trend can be broken.
In a political system that allows many political parties, a re-run is almost enevitable.
“We are likely to have a re-run,” says Mr Habasonda.
A re-run is basically a two-horse race which involves the best two candidates in the first round of voting, with a view of having a candidate who wins by majority vote.
Article 47 of the Constitution states that:
“Elections to the office of President shall be conducted directly, under a majoritarian electoral system, where the winning candidate must receive more than fifty percent of the valid votes cast, and in accordance with Article 101.”
Under Article 101, the Constitution states that:
“If at the initial ballot a presidential candidate does not receive more than fifty percent of the valid votes cast, a second ballot shall be held within thirty-seven days of the initial ballot, where the only candidates shall be the presidential candidates who obtained –
(a) the highest and second highest number of valid votes cast in the initial ballot…
Mr Habasonda, who is also a lecturer of political science at the University of Zambia, welcomed the constitutional amendments, describing them as “practical steps towards true democratisation.”
“The voice of the Zambian people has been heard over the 50 percent plus one,” he says.
Mr Habasonda says although a re-run is costly, it has the huge benefit of giving better legitimacy to a government, as well as avoiding marginalisation of minority groups.
Come August 11, Zambians will have a chance to have a President voted into office by a majority vote, thereby giving them clear legitimacy.
Although re-runs have proved problematic in some African countries such as Zimbabwe, resulting in a coalition government, some civil society leaders like McDonald Chipenzi of the Foundation for Democratic Process are still optimistic that Zambia’s Christian foundation can still hold, thereby preventing any violence.
The Central African Republic, a country still reeling for a protracted civil war, recently held its general elections and a re-run is scheduled later this month.
Although not the best example of a democracy, it might still provide some vital lessons for Zambia, in as far as re-runs go.

FAQ
Can parties band together during a re-run?
If a first-round vote does not produce a clear majority winner and a re-run is called, political parties are free to support either of the two candidates who get the highest number of votes. But the Zambian Constitution does not allow for a coalition government, where a losing presidential candidate or party is invited to form government as it happened in the United Kingdom when Conservative David Cameron and Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg agreed to work together in 2010.
Actually, the current Constitution, under Article 55 forbids giving of jobs to losing candidates.
It states: “A candidate who loses an election as a President, Vice-President, Member of Parliament or councillor is not eligible, during the term of that National Assembly or council, for appointment as –
(a) Minister; or
(b) Provincial Minister.”
Can someone who did not vote in the first round vote in a re-run?
As long as someone is a registered voter, they will be allowed to vote in the second round, even if they did not vote in the first round.
What if the top two candidates get an equal number of votes?
Although this scenario is highly improbable, the Constitution under Article 101, gives it as one of the basis to call for a re-run.
Part B of this article states that a re-run can be called if the top two candidates get “an equal number of the valid votes cast in the initial ballot, being the highest votes amongst the presidential candidates that stood for election to the office of President.”
What if one of the two presidential candidates who got the highest votes is disqualified or dies before a re-run?
The Constitution in Article 102 states that if a presidential candidate is disqualified for engaging in electoral malpractices during the first round of voting, for instant, “the presidential candidate shall not take part in the second ballot and the candidate who scored the third highest number of valid votes cast in the initial ballot shall be a presidential candidate in the second ballot, together with the remaining presidential candidate that had initially qualified for the second ballot.”
But if a presidential candidate dies or resigns due to ill-health before the second ballot, the running mate to that presidential candidate in the initial ballot shall assume the place of that presidential candidate and shall appoint a running mate.

Daily Mail

Posted by Staffreporter on January 13, 2016. Filed under LATEST NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.