Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu has warned that he will introduce ‘draconian measures’ if the violence marring the elections campaigns continues reports Bloomberg.
“If they push me against the wall, I will sacrifice democracy for peace,” Lungu said on Monday in comments at a campaign rally broadcast by Lusaka-based Hot FM on Tuesday. “If it means using draconian measures under the law as they may be applicable in a situation, I will apply them.”
According to the Zambia Daily Nation, Lungu said that the peace and unity the country was enjoying was attained at great sacrifice and he was not going to allow political mischief to breed anarchy and make the country ungovernable in the name of democracy.
The President urges poll observers and monitors to be objective as August 11 election dates approaches.
Lungu has led Zambia since January 2015 and hopes to be re-elected again in this coming general elections in Africa’s second largest copper producer country. Hakainde Hichilema remains the strongest opposition to President Lungu’s re-election for a second time, after Lungu beat him with 28,000 votes in the last elections.
Hichelema has also called for an end to the violence.
