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Zambia ruling party denies pushing for extension of leaders' term in office

Xinhua, October 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

Zambia's ruling party on Friday denied reports that it was pushing for the extension of the terms of the tenure of office of elected leaders.

On Thursday, Paul Moonga, a member of the Central Committee of the Patriotic Front (PF) proposed that the tenure of political office be increased from the current five years to seven.

He said the extension of the terms of office for the president, the vice, lawmakers and councilors will enable them to work effectively as five years was too short to accomplish anything.

However, this has received sharp criticism from the opposition who feel it was a ploy by the ruling party to extend the term of office of President Edgar Lungu who was elected for a five year term during the August 11 polls.

But Inonge Wina, who is both the country's and party's vice-president, said the statement does not represent the views of the party or the government.

She said in parliament that the views expressed by the party member were his own and did not represent the views of the party as the Central Committee has never sat to consider such an issue.

"It has nothing to do with the central committee nor is it government's position," she said. Endit