CIVIL Society for Constitutional Agenda (CiSCA) Chairperson Judith Mulenga has advised voters to cast their votes based on their ‘personal opinion poll’ and conviction.

In a statement, Monday, Mulenga urged the voters to ignore the opinion polls which were conducted by individuals attempting to manipulate their views.

“The Civil Society Constitution Agenda (CiSCA) urges voters to cast their votes based on their own individual personal opinion poll and conviction. Voters should ignore the push opinion polls typically done by a group of individuals attempting to manipulate or change voters’ views. Push polls generally work in a country whose socio economic situation ranges from normal to above in order to persuade the undecided voters. In Zambia the socio economic reality is so stark that a pre-determined set of questions posed to a pre-determined sample size population cannot change the reality of an individual’s personal situation,” Mulenga said.

“The upcoming elections are a core constitutional duty that not only reaffirms our multi-party democracy but also allows us, ‘the people,’ to decide who [will] serve us as our leaders for the next five years at local and national levels. After we choose we cannot reverse, therefore we must choose based on how life in Zambia has been for each one of us. If life has been good for you as an individual under the leadership of the current ruling party, then you know who to vote for.”

Mulenga said people must be able to introspect and identify various challenges that occurred in the past five years which included corruption, lawlessness among other issues.

“If it is well with you to have cadres brazenly enter our government complex, the engine of government, manhandle and drag a civil servant whose purported ‘crime’ is being a supporter of the opposition, to the Permanent Secretary’s office who in turn sits immobilized cowering in his seat as a normal occurrence in a constitutional unitary multi-party Christian nation. If it is well with you for cadres to ransack a police station and beat up police officers and simply walk away, then you know where to place your treasured X,” she said.

“Before casting your vote, pause and ask yourself if it is in order for a health minister to order expired medicines and defective condoms through a fictitious company and he not only goes scot free but is also adopted to stand as a Member of Parliament yet again! If you are at peace with the gross theft of public funds that the nation has been subjected to in this regime such as the now infamous USD1 million each fire tenders, the Michael Chilufya Sata toll gate, the USD288, 000 [for] each ambulances and the many grand thefts as reported by the Office of the Auditor’s General’s Reports year in and year out, you know where to place your constitutionally guaranteed X.”

Mulenga added that the high cost of living must be a basis for one to make the right choice when casting their vote.

“If you noticed the absurdity of campaign adverts stating ‘no more load shedding’ when you are still experiencing load shedding. If you are puzzled by such absurdity as mealie meal down from K250 to K150 by the same people that took the price to K250 from K45 in 2011, then you know where to place your X on polling day. If you think that it is fine for a nation to over borrow, fail to disclose the full amount borrowed, fail to pay instalments on the debt and make every Zambian born or unborn indebted is sound economic foundation and ‘unprecedented’ development, then you know where to place your X,” said Mulenga.