• ECZ has no powers to decide whether parties should hold rallies during campaigns.
• If elections have to be held this year, public meetings must be held.
• Kambwili rubbishes reports that he called for the postponement of 2021 elections due to COVID-19.

National Democratic Congress (NDC) President says it is not the constitutional mandate of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to decide whether political parties should hold public rallies during this year’s general elections.
Speaking during a press briefing held at his residence, Chishimba Kambwili said political parties should be allowed to hold public rallies during this year’s elections as public meetings cannot be separated from the electoral process.
‘‘There is nowhere in the world where you can hold elections without public meetings. If you go ahead and hold elections without public gatherings then that is not an election,’’ he said.
‘‘Elections are synonymous with public meetings because that is the only platform you can use to get to the people of Zambia as the public media does not cover the opposition.’’
Mr. Kambwili also added that countries like the United States of America (USA) and Uganda have shown that it is possible to hold rallies even in the midst of the corona virus pandemic.
‘‘In America, despite COVID- being at its highest peak, Joe Biden and Donald Trump were still going around the states holding public meetings, ’’ he said.
‘‘In short, if these (2021) elections have to be held, then public meetings have to be allowed.’’
Meanwhile, Mr. Kambwili has refuted media reports that he called for the postponement of the 2021 tripartite elections due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.
‘’I never ever insinuated or said that elections must not be held. Who am I to call for deferring of elections?’’ he wondered.
He explained that no one has the power to postpone elections in Zambia as they are a constitutional provision.
‘’Unless parliament convenes and changes the constitution, there is nobody that can stop the elections on the 12th of August,’’ Kambwili added.