Former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has emphasized the need for free and fair elections in Africa.
Mr. Jonathan, who is leading the African
Union Elections Observation Mission to Zambia, said, Monday, August 8,
2016 on Twitter, “If Africa can’t yet send men to the moon, we should at
least organize elections that are free and fair of which the whole
world will be proud.”
The southern African country holds its presidential and parliamentary elections this Thursday.
Mr. Jonathan, in a preceding tweet, posted a group photograph he took with other AU observers.
“As they (are) ready to deploy to the
field I charged my observers to uphold the hopes and aspirations of
Zambians,” Mr Jonathan wrote in a caption to the photograph.
The former president has so far met with
representatives of Zambia’s electoral commission as well as candidates
for the elections.
He also met with the former president of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda, whom he described as “one of Africa’s inspiring leaders”.
The forthcoming presidential election in
Zambia is mainly between two candidates – the incumbent, Edgar Lungu of
the ruling Patriotic Front, and the Hakainde Hichilema of the United
Party for National Development.
Both Mr. Lungu and Mr. Hichilema had
contested in an early election in January 2015, following the death of
the then President Michael Sata. Mr. Lungu won by a narrow margin.
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