VETERAN politician Vernon Mwaanga says his experience as an international election observer has shown that holding free and fair elections is not always easy. Recently, the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) said the suspension of counting in the August 2026 general elections and the subsequent closure of courts curtailed transparency and access to justice. In a statement, Thursday, Mwaanga said western democracies also experience electoral problems such as accusations of rigging. “I have been following general elections in our country since January 1964. I have also been an international election observer in West Africa, Great Lakes, SADC and in Asia. Zambia’s Electoral process has been of particular interest to me. We were a multiparty democracy from 1964 to...