Parliament on Wednesday defeated the proposed amendment of one of the electoral reform Bills brought in the house by government side.
Opposition members of Parliament rejected the amendment of the Constitution Bill Number 2, which again sought to address the issue of fresh presidential election.
Justice minister, Bright Msaka, presented the bill in the August house to amend section 80 of the constitution which seeks to set the date of holding fresh election and the 50+1 system of determining the winner in the presidential race.
The government side failed to meet a two thirds majority from the 173 members who were present in the house and voted, whereby 92 members supported the bill while 81 rejected.
In his reaction, the justice minister condemned the opposition for denying the bill saying the country can only go to the polls on June 23 if the constitution is amended.
Msaka said: “The election must happen on the 23rd of June, however, it must be provided for in the constitution and not by a motion.”
But commenting on the development, leader of opposition, Lobin Lowe, said the opposition will use the motion to go to the polls.
“Previously we had the same bill and the state president decided not to ascend to it meaning that government is not interested and after going through the court ruling they didn’t command us to amend the constitution rather the ruling was for us to fix the date,” said Lowe.
Deliberations were also characterized by chaos with members from both sides castigating each other.
