European ministers urge electoral reform

Three European ministers on Thursday urged Zambia to reform its electoral system to guarantee free and fair polls next year, Reuters reported. The calls follow opposition charges that the current electoral process tends to favour the ruling party. The international development ministers from Britain, Sweden and Norway said free elections would give legitimacy to President Frederick Chiluba’s successor, entrench political stability and lure international investment. Clare Short, Maj-Inger Klingvall and Anne Kristin Sydnes - the ministers from Britain, Sweden and Norway were on a tour of Zambia to promote good governance and gain support for the fight against AIDS, debt relief and corruption. “In our meeting with President Chiluba, we emphasised the need to streamline the electoral process to ensure free and fair elections. This is important for the legitimacy of whoever wins the polls as well as future investment,” Klingvall said. Opposition leaders have complained that the electoral system is tilted in favour of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), threatening fair play and increasing the possibility of violence and chaos in the run up to the polls. Chiluba, a former preacher, told a church congregation in Nigeria at the weekend that he would definitely leave office and return to religion when his second and final five-year term expires in 2001.