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Zambia launches probe into election violence

Xinhua, December 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

A team appointed to inquire into violence that rocked Zambia before and after the 2016 general elections started its work on Tuesday, with a promise that it will exercise impartiality in its work.

On October 21, 2016, President Edgar Lungu appointed a 15-member Commission of Inquiry on Voting Patterns and Electoral Violence.

The team was also mandated to investigate the voting patterns between 2006 and 2016 and establish the root cause.

Justice Munalula Lisimba, the chairperson of the Commission said during the launch that it will start holding its sittings on Monday, December 19 and that the hearings will be conducted throughout the country's 10 provinces, starting with Lusaka Province.

The sittings will last for 120 days.

He allayed fears that the probe was aimed at targeting opposition leaders and their supporters, saying it was not an extension of the ruling party.

"What we have is an independent Commission which will conduct its hearings in public and will welcome any person, without considering their political inclination, to appear before it," he told reporters.

According to him, the appointment of the Commission provides an opportunity to every Zambian to be heard and that it will bring healing to people who suffered electoral violence.

The Commission will, among other things, establish the extent to which pre-election violence influenced the voting patterns and whether any political party, traditional leadership or any other organization played a negative role to influence the voting pattern.

Apart from the public hearings, the Commission has also provided other means of submissions such as online, post-written, and drop-written.

The Commission is expected to recommend measures to be taken to ensure voting patterns were reflective of people's free will and measures to prevent the occurrence of violence in future elections.

Zambia's 2016 general elections were marred by violence witnessed in some parts of the country before the elections and after the elections.

The ruling Patriotic Front (PF) led by President Edgar Lungu emerged winner of the polls, beating the main opposition United Party for National Development (UPND). Endit