Patriotic Front chairperson for elections Sylvia Masebo says members who are not in good standing with the party will not be allowed to contest the Copperbelt provincial elections set for this Saturday.
Masebo said the dissolved committee members will be allowed to stand in the elections on condition that they had maintained a good relationship with the party.
She said the party will thoroughly screen the candidates for the poll that will be held at the Hindu Hall in Kitwe.
Masebo said nominations will be opened on Friday with elections taking place at 09:00 hours.
The Copperbelt provincial committee was dissolved following electoral defeats in Solwezi East and Kafulafuta.
Masebo has since called on the PF needs to show leadership by conducting credible and free elections on the Copperbelt.
She warns that confusion, violence and vote buying would not be tolerated.
“As a party in government, we need to show that we can conduct credible and free elections,” Masebo said.
“We want to appeal to those standing as well as delegates to the conference that confusion will not be tolerated. We do not want any intimidation, people should be allowed to vote freely and only delegates will be allowed in the hall. Any member of the party who is not a delegate should not attend.”
The delegates, according to Masebo, would include three constituency officials from each constituency, all elected councillors and all members of parliament on the Copperbelt Province.
She added that members of the dissolved provincial committee would also be delegates to the provincial conference.
“The three constituency officials would consist of the chairperson of the main constituency committee, the constituency chairlady and constituency youth,” Masebo, who is also tourism minister, said.
Masebo, who also noted that the recent party election in Lusaka was free and fair, said the party would not allow any confusion to rock the conference on the Copperbelt.
Last weekend, an exchange of bitter words among PF members, some ministers and members of parliament characterised the Mufulira district elections.
PF Kankoyo member of parliament, Levy Chabala, exchanged bitter words with Chishimba Kambwili and accused the sports minister of causing confusion in Mufulira.
The elections failed to take place in the morning as scheduled due to confrontations among party officials that were clearly divided, forming camps within themselves.
The party officials only managed to cast their votes around 20:00 hours.
It took several interventions by returning officer, Dr Ngosa Simbyakula, who is also home affairs minister; PF deputy secretary general, Bridget Atanga and other senior party officials from the secretariat to restore calm.
Police officers also had a tough time calming the two camps that almost beat each other up.
Confusion started in the morning after Musenge was tasked to call out the names of registered and eligible voters for the district election.
Immediately after Musenge finished calling out the names, some party officials argued that some names were missing, while others contended that many eligible voters had been deliberately suspended, a situation they said would give advantage to other contenders.
At this point, some party members stood and started accusing Musenge, Kambwili and other senior party members of making attempts to manipulate the electoral college so that their preferred candidates could win the election.
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