PF vice-president Given Lubinda says the number of election petitions filed in court is an indication that the 2021 general elections were marred by irregularities.

About 77 election petitions had been filed into court as of August 31, 2021

And commenting on the development in an interview, Lubinda said the high number of election petitions had vindicated former president Edgar Lungu who had lamented that the elections had a lot of irregularities.

“It will have no impact whatsoever on the party, what it does is that it proves to the Zambian people that these elections were marred with a lot of irregularities, which we have been talking about. That is the only thing that we see. These elections as far as we are concerned were marred with a lot of irregularities. President Lungu spoke about that on the day of elections, he spoke about the violence that was taking place. President Lungu is being vindicated when he said that there were irregularities in these elections,” Lubinda said.

“What Zambians will realise now is that irregularities of elections are not only caused by the ruling party but could also be caused by the opposition party. So, we shall hear more when the matters go to court. I am sure there will be a lot of stories, a lot of irregularities will be unearthed in these petitions. We are happy that there are all these petitions so that Zambians can know the truth. Zambians now have the opportunity to be told about how polling agents were being chased from polling stations and we will find out who was chasing these polling agents. Evidence will be [brought] on how some presiding officers were handling ballot papers under the trees. So, we are happy about it.”

Lubinda said PF would not die but would continue to grow in strength.

“Let prophets continue with their prophecy, those who have given themselves the time to determine the future let them continue. As far as we are concerned, the Patriotic Front is a political party which is in existence today and it has 59 members of parliaments. At one time the ruling party, the UPND only had 28 members of parliament, how come it didn’t die? Why do people think that the party which has 59 members of parliament and as many members as we have, why do they think that it should die? No! The PF will not die. We will grow from strength to strength,” he said.

Lubinda said those who wanted to see PF die were not lovers of democracy.

“Those who are praying for the PF to die are the ones who are hoping that Zambia can become a one-party state. If you at News Diggers! are lovers of democracy, of multi-party politics, then you are not going to be praying for the demise of any political party. Every democratic Zambian would like to see that there are several parties existing. That is what we fought for in 1991,” said Lubinda

“So, for anyone to wish that the PF dies, then they want us to go back to a one-party state. So, all peace loving, all democratic Zambians shall make sure that the PF survives. There are many of them who want to make sure that the UPND Alliance is brought under checks and balances by formidable oppositions.”