The National Democratic Congress Party says the Patriotic Front plan to print ballot papers for 2021 general elections locally so that they can rig.

In a statement, Monday, National Chairperson for Elections Ackson Simwizya stated that President Edgar Lungu was desperate to perpetuate his stay in office and would therefore do anything to rig the polls.

“The National Democratic Congress NDC has noticed with dismay the grave attempts by the PF Government to manipulate the country’s electoral process. The NDC will and does not support pronouncements that ballot papers for the 2021 general polls be printed locally. Attempts to print ballots locally are a clear indication that the PF has plans to engage in fraud and manipulate the electoral process in their favour. President Edgar Lungu is desperate to perpetuate his stay in political office and will therefore do anything to rig the polls. If Mr Lungu can openly support corruption, what then will stop him from manipulating the electoral process?” he wondered.

He also pointed out that the government printers do not have the necessary salient security features and requirements including machinery to print ballots in Zambia.

Meanwhile, Simwizya slammed government claims that colossal sums of money were wasted on printing of ballots outside the country.

“As NDC, we know key stakeholders such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) have in previous polls been assisting and availing counterpart funding to the Electoral Commission of Zambia ECZ. Therefore, the notion that the pf wants to save resources does not hold water. Why should this regime hide under the veil of saving funds when it is an open secret that this regime is a spendthrift?” wondered Simwizya.

“The PF has made this blanket proposal without listening to the views and concerns of other political groupings and stakeholders. Therefore, attempts to rig the 2021 polls by the PF will be meet with resistance. When did Edgar Lungu start caring about saving the country’s resources?  This is a man who is involved in all sorts of illicit financial activities and it is nauseating that Lungu wants to save resources through printing ballots locally. It doesn’t make sense at all.”