. Akufuna

By REBECCA  MUSHOTA –
NONE of the presidential candidates that were scheduled to file in their nominations yesterday, succeeded to do so.
The first party that was scheduled to file in their candidate’s nomination papers was the Common Cause Democratic Party at 09:00 hours.
Common Cause Democratic Party president James Mtonga announced in the morning at the Supreme Court, which is the presidential nomination centre, that he was withdrawing from the race to State House.
Mr Mtonga said he was facing logistical problems and could therefore not manage to file in his nomination.
Later, Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) public relations manager Cris Akufuna said Mr Mtonga had informed the commission that he could not find 200 supporters and neither could he afford a nomination fee.
Mr Akufuna also said the second party that was scheduled to file in its candidate’s nomination, National Party wrote to the ECZ that due to logistical reasons, the party was also pulling out of the race.
“National Party president Reverend Richard Kambulu wrote to the Commission and said that he could not raise the 200 supporters nor the K10,000 nomination fee and was therefore withdrawing from the race,” he said.
The third person that was scheduled to file in his nomination was Nationalist Party president Ackim Ngosa between 15:00 hours and 17:30 hours.
However, by 17:30 hours, Mr Ngosa had not turned up at the Supreme Court nor communicated to ECZ on his intentions.