The opposition alliance says it wants to win the 2021 presidential election with a landslide victory to ensure it exceeds the required 50 per cent plus one threshold.

And the alliance has threatened to pull out of the Zambia Centre for Interparty Dialogue if it does not stop attacking the three Church mother bodies over the national dialogue process.

In a statement read on behalf of other alliance members at a press briefing in Lusaka, Alliance Chairperson for Media and public relations Sean Tembo said the opposition alliance was targeting to scoop the 2021 presidential election with a landslide victory in order to avoid any unnecessary reruns.

He also declared that he was personally ready to be led by any alliance member who would be adopted as presidential candidate at the 2021 polls.

“I must say that the alliance has made a lot of strides, we have been able to combine different competencies that each political party has and come 2021, we want to ensure that we win the elections not by a small margin where there can be room for debate or doubt, we want to win with a landslide! And I must mention that it does not matter, which presidential candidate the alliance adopts, because each and every member of the opposition alliance is a credible member, and I personally will be comfortable to be led by President Milupi here as Republican President; I will be comfortable to be led by President Hakainde Hichilema as Republican President after 2021 or anyone else,” Tembo, who was flanked by ADD president Charles Milupi, revealed.

And Tembo, who is also Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP) president, complained that the ZCID was being used by the PF as they were funding the organisation.

“It is apparent that the ZCID of yester-years is totally different from the ZCID of today. When the ZCID was initially formed, it derived its funding from the donor community, who allowed it to operate freely and independently, devoid of any encumbrances. However, with the passage of time, ZCID began to fail to account for donor funds and subsequently, the donors decided to cease their funding. With no funding available to ZCID, the government through the Ministry of Justice decided to start funding ZCID through a monthly grant of approximately K100,000. However, the PF decided to take advantage of the fact that they determined the remuneration of the board members of the ZCID and begun to use their influence to dictate the control of ZCID and its board,” Tembo narrated.

Tembo also said the alliance was disappointed with the shunning of the dialogue launch by the Judiciary and Legislature, despite being invited by the three Church mother bodies.

Meanwhile, Milupi, the alliance chairperson, argued that no single political party was capable of winning the crucial August, 2021, polls due to the introduction of the 50 per cent plus one threshold, hence the need to coalesce into a united front.

“The reason some people are saying that small political parties are riding on the shoulders of the alliance is because they want to destabilise this formation so that certain people can have an easy ride in 2021. If you look at the political landscape of Zambia today, with the 50% +1, in In my view, there is no single political party at the moment that can out-rightly achieve that victory, even the PF. That’s why you have the MMD of Mutati, alongside Cosmo Mumba, Danny Pule and others. So, when you see us come together, it is not because the so-called ‘small political parties’ have nothing to do, or they want to hide under somebody else, that’s not the case,” he said.

“You have seen that certain people, since the creation of this alliance, their job description has changed from being PF media director to just attacking the alliance, which is very helpful. Because before then they were just attacking HH, now they are attacking Sean Tembo, Chipimo, Lukuku, Milupi, Kambwili and so on. We are sharing the burden, it doesn’t bother us at all. The very fact that they are doing that, it means the weight is being felt on their shoulders,” said Milupi.