By BRIAN HATYOKA –

THE Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) has urged all electoral stakeholders to adhere to the Electoral Code of Conduct to guarantee a peaceful, free and fair election.
FODEP Livingstone District chairperson Gideon Musonda said political parties, the media, police and other stakeholders need to follow the Electoral Code of Conduct to facilitate the much desired peaceful, free and fair election this year.
Mr Musonda said in an interview yesterday that the various stakeholders should do their part to uphold the guidelines instead of waiting for the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to take punitive measures against those who were violating the document.
“As FODEP, we have been advocating for the giving of powers to ECZ to discipline stakeholders who violate the Electoral Code of Conduct. However, stakeholders should not wait for ECZ to discipline them, but they should do what is right to promote a peaceful, free and fair election,” Mr Musonda said.
He said there was need for the police to maintain law and order during the campaigns instead of waiting for ECZ to act.
The Electoral Code of Conduct provided for both public and private media to practice fairness in the coverage of candidates and political parties in the spirit envisaged by the Electoral Act.
It also indicated stated that all media houses should not make any abusive editorial comment, incite violence or advocate hatred based on race, ethnicity, tribe, gender, political or religious conviction.
The Code also stated that the media should not broadcast their own political opinion, commentary or assessment.
Where the media wishes to do so, they are supposed to clearly identify the opinion, commentary or assessment as their own and shall carefully balance it in order to avoid bias.
As for public opinion polls, these should be treated with caution and broadcasters must inform the public about the source of the poll and should indicate the margin of error.
However, some media houses are allegedly violating some provisions of the Electoral Code of Conduct