Voting in the Milanzi parliamentary by-election in Katete district in Eastern province is progressing well, with over 900 people having voted by 09:00 hours this morning.
A check by ZANIS in over seven polling stations found hundreds of people anxiously queuing up to cast their votes despite the cold weather.
At around 09:00 hours, 300 had cast their votes at Kagoro Basic polling station, 233 at Dole basic school polling station, 150 at Kawaza, 130 at Kafumbwe basic school and 98 at Chimbundire polling station.
The number of registered voters at Dole polling station is 646 but only 233 had voted by 11:00hours, while Kagoro polling station has 722 where 300 people had cast their votes by 11:00 hours.
Kawaza polling station has 438 voters in the register but only 150 had cast their votes by 10:00 hours.
Voting closes at 18:00 hours this evening.
The Milanzi constituency seat fell vacant in March this after the death of Dr. Chosani Njovu of the United National Independence Party (UNIP).
Political parties contesting the seat include the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), Patriotic Front (PF), United National Independence Party (UNIP), United Party for National Development (UPND), All People’s Congress party (APC) and the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD).
Milanzi constituency has 19,700 registered voters and 40 polling stations.
ZANIS/LN/KSH/ENDS
Awe chawama icho mwe. Mugabe are you seeing.
Milanzi; show Bob Mugabe how things are done in a democracy….long live democracy in Zambia!!
bravo.Zambia lead the region.
1,2 & 3 (Billy, Bwalya and monko)
If Mugabe considers Great Britain as (and I quote) “A tiny little dot in the world”, what makes you think he will even be aware of a bye election in a rural part of Zambia? but I like your line of thought
Thr z nothing to show for it.The whole govt machinery z in Milanzi & thr z rampart vote buying.
The only thing missing is violence and all SADC democratic guidelines r being broken with impunity by the SADC chairman.Shame
Milanzi peoople will remember “kafusasa” which was given to them and they will vote for LMP.
Levy tells opposition to let MMD go unopposed-Post newspapers
By Chibaula Silwamba in Milanzi
PRESIDENT Levy Mwanawasa has urged all opposition political parties to stop contesting elections and allow MMD candidates win unopposed because the party in government was delivering to people’s expectations.Addressing a rally at Kawaza village on Tuesday to drum up support for MMD parliamentary candidate Reuben Chisanga Banda in today’s Milanzi by-elections, President Mwanawasa said opposition political parties should stop wasting people’s time.
He said although the MMD was formed in 1991 to fight for the reintroduction of multi-party system of governance, that did not mean that people should belong to different political parties just for the sake of it.”So I will propose to you what I think all opposition political parties should do having regard to our 100 per cent good performance,” President Mwanawasa said. “What they should do is they should not waste everybody’s time in contesting these elections; they should leave it to MMD to continue doing the good job until such time as when we have failed to deliver the goods.
That is when they can challenge us. If we are delivering the goods, we expect to be supported. If we fail to deliver the goods, we expect to be kicked out.”President Mwanawasa said all political parties had failed to find faults in his government and the only thing they were doing was to tell lies.”For quite some time now, I have been observing remarks of my colleagues in the opposition political parties, their attacks on MMD and fortunately for us, I don’t see any constructive criticism on anything we have done,” President Mwanawasa said.
“Those who are honest have praised us for the good deeds; those who are malicious have merely displayed their ignorance. So instead of wasting time on these by-elections let the MMD candidate go unopposed.”President Mwanawasa said his government had provided good leadership which had made good things to happen such as provision of medical services, education, farming input subsidies.”Therefore, country men and women, let us not make experiments. Let us not say let’s try UNIP again things will be better this time, maybe if we can try UPND things will be better, maybe let’s try PF; this government is properly determined to improve the lots of our people,” he said.
“This government is a government for the people; this party is a party for the people, it has structures throughout the country. You go to Shang’ombo, you will find MMD, you go to Mbala you will find MMD, you go to Mwinilunga you will find MMD,” President Mwanawasa said.”We are not a tribal party or a clique of individuals who want their tribe to be elected into government. We are a party which wants Zambians to be elected into government and we are proud to boast that we are a national party.”President Mwanawasa commended MMD Eastern Province chairman, Kennedy Zulu, and his executive committee for their good performance in the short time they have been in office.
COMMENTS
Zambians must learn that democracy is not all about opposing a serving regime for the sake of it.Democratic competition must be based on alternative value systems which is not there in all satellite political parties. It cannot either be based on tribal lines as the case is in what we have opposing MMD.
Levy P Mwanawasa has no right to tell other political parties to step down. Weather on his standards he says he has done a good job does not mean other political parties must not contest the MMD. Who knows, maybe the other parties will do an even better job than the MMD.
And from his comments about tribalism, it is so OBVIOUS that that comment was directed at UPND. He is using a “poisoning the well” logical fallacy.
Why is everyone attacking UPND. Why are they so scared. If the party holds no power, then they shouldn’t be talking about it but that is all i hear nowadays.
MMD has won by-election(councilor is Mr Chanda)
#13 u crazy zambian,U cant say levy has no right to tell other political parties to ‘step down’ this is politics during election time, u can’t expect the gloves to still be on, and its rather unfortunate that u think his tribalism remarks were aimed at UPND, UP and DOWN is not the only opposition party in zambia they are at least nine others, why are u upnd cadres paranoid about tribalism there is something u guys are hiding or are scared of its becoming suspicious.
#15 pankoloko
Democracy is about choice. One cannot have multi party democracy if there is only one party. It becomes 1 party democracy (remember UNIP days).
Also i may be for UPND but what makes you think i am tribal. I have nothing to hide and i was basing that comment on the fact that whenever someone criticizes UPND, they always use TRIBALISM as an argument.
#16
U are right its about choice as u can see there is no-one pointing a gun to the voters heads, they are free 2 vote for anyone despite MMD being the clear favourite for them. I didnt say u are tribal u said that and the way u guys dance around when u here the word tribalism is suspicious.
This not about guns pointed to a person NO NO # 16, be real.No tribalism has been mentioned too.It is just about elections guys.
LT where is my mails?????
send to bobgrace @ harare.com
Crazy_Zambian,
Democracy can still be democracy under one or two political structures.Botswana is a successful Democracy under one party but with intra party freedom to mount dissenting leadership. The US is a two party system with titular parties that will never sale significantly other than Mr Perots’e ever achievement.Who told you that democracy is only practical where there is the madness we are seeing in Zambia. No manifestos, no pragmatism and no ideologies.Give me the ideological gaps among the four parties you know of in Zambia today.
PRAGMATIST. YES DEMOCRACY CAN WORK WHERE THERE IS ONE PARTY BUT ZAMBIA IS A MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY.
ALSO YOU ARE FORGETTING WHERE ZAMBIA IS LOCATED ON THE WORLD MAP AND WE BOTH KNOW WHAT GOES ON IN THIS CONTINENT. 1 OR 2 PARTY DEMOCRACY CANNOT WORK IN AFRICA.
TO EVEN TRY IT IS PUTTING YOUR COUNTRY IN THE CHAOS OF UNREST AND CIVIL WAR
Tell me about Botswana, isn’t it a model state? Maybe you are made to believe its on the moon.Who told you that the duplicity we have in Zambia is the only practical form of democracy? Revisit contemporary democracy and real clear politics to realise how much a nightmare we have.
MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY IS THE ONLY SYSTEN OF DEMOCRACY THAT CAN WORK IN ZAMBIA AND AFRICA.
PRAGMATIST YOU ARE ONLY MENTIONING ONE AFRICAN COUNTRY FORGETTING THE NUMBER OF AFRICAN COUNTRIES THAT HAVE GONE TO WAR UNDER 1 OR 2 PARTY DEMOCRACY.
YOU KEEP ON PUSHING FOR ONE PARTY DEMOCRACY BECAUSE YOU WANT TO ENSURE MMD STAYS IN POWER. PERHAPS YOU SHOULD LOOK AT THE WORLD MAP AGAIN AND SEE WHERE ZAMBIA IS LOCATED THEN RESEARCH WHAT REALLY GOES ON IN THIS CONTINENT. OUT OF ALL THE 52 STATES, YOU CAN ONLY MENTION 1.
FOR EVERY 1 AFRICAN COUNTRY WHERE 1 OR 2 PARTY DEMOCRACY HAS WORKED, THERE ARE A LOT MORE WHERE IT HASN’T WORKED.
MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY IS DOING JUST FINE.
Who won in milanzi? But 2011 it will MMD ZWA! UPND NJILA! Dont worry guys we will rule zed ba upnd want or not.
MMD has banged it
MMD wins Milanzi seat
The ruling MMD has won the Milanzi parliamentary seat with an overwhelming majority
MMD candidate Reuben Banda polled 5,065 votes beating his closest rival Ahmed Randela of UNIP who got 2,387 votes.
UPND’s Chimwala Phiri came third with 2,303 votes.
PF candidate Peter Phiri was fourth with 688 votes, while Francis Phiri of FDD got 278 votes
All People’s Congress candidate Steven Phiri only managed 122 votes.
Milanzi Parliamentary Constituency returning officer Mutiti Lukonga announced the results and declared Reuben Banda as duly elected.
Thanks for the data #28. Only the MMD, UNIP and the UPND were clearly on the competition.
PF finished poorly as expected for they seem not to exist outside the Copperbelt, Luapula and Lusaka provinces.
FDD seems to have a lot of hard work to do if they ever hope to make an impact in Zambian politics.
APC must consider their case seriously. ULP no one know what happened for they seem not to have participated.
Clearly on the MMD and UPND has a national appeal as asserted by #26 in his prediction – which I do not suscribe to.
ama phiri ukufula in milanzi
No free and fair election. Vote buying , distribution of food, and use of state machinery. Ww better wait for 2011 and real men will emerge. LPM is good on the surface and enjoyys praises even when there is nothing.LP Banda was appointed for helping him win Eastern Province, isnt that political corruption. We account the money spent on that bye election and yet Civil servants are over taxed and getting meger salaries. Graduates are cleaning toilets and loaming the streets. Peole are generally poor and can hardly find food unless during elections. What development. UNZA students have been turned into prostitutes for survival. What development LPM?
Congratulations MMD, this was expected, the President did not address himself to the issues regarding malpractices during the elections. What is even worse was that the President suggested that the opposition parties should withdraw and leave the MMD to contest the by election because of their 100% delivery. This I think is archaic LPM. On RB, I am not sure why he was appointed to start with by MMD, because for all I know RB was UNIP through and through, if truth be told all the people that have made MMD what it is today, especially those in cabinet positions were never MMD, I have evidence to this effect.
what did you expec – MMD wins. With all ++(%^%#@#!!#$&*_*(&(*^%_)((*&^$#$!$@%^*(( distributed to the voters. It is a disease.
excuses, excuses, excuses, its unbelievable, guys dont be sore losers pick up the broken pieces and prepare for 2011 twalelanda ati pa 26 june ninkoloko iyikesa mukupita but no no no ba UPND bakamba ne’ tusuni chimwala phiri nakamwambila mwebo ma cadre ati kumishabo ku eastern ba suni reuben ano mwebo u dismissed me as out of touch with reality, kubija bana uku kuyoyo ku milanzi mwaka lutuka very bad two times less the amount of votes reuben received and third in the running buluya bana buluya… i tell u so, 2011 ICHO, ICHO .
MMD will definately win coz wa musheto patemwisha ku milanzi.
29: Correct Analysis.PF GAINS 30 % POPULARITY IN MILANZI
2006:MMD got 4,472 now 5,065 votes.More popular by 13.3 %
2006:UDA(UNIP,UPND,FDD) got 5,682 now split UNIP 2,387 &
UPND 2,303. ( 4,690).Lost popularity by 17.5 %
PF got 529 and now have gotten 688.More popular by 30 %
APC got 1,259 and now 122.Lost popularity by 90.3 %
So PF despite losing elections is by far the party to watch having gained popularity by 30 %, followed by MMD ‘s 13.3 %.
UNIP+UPND are losing grip of the East as the lost popularity by 17.5%
APC is dead as the have lost popularity by 90.3.
Pankoloko, I am told political parties have a life span of 20 years, get a cue from this. What about the mealie meal that was being distributed, was it also part of the campaign materials? I didn’t know we have mealie meal labelled MMD. For UNIP they are just leaving on past glory, they may as well just bury themselves.
Nice analysis #36, it is good these things are starting to show now, better now than late.
#37 Mwiinga u also u like questioning me too much but i will answer since u and crazy zambian are the only ones who offer formidable opposition to my party, i dont know much about the lifespan of political parties because that assertion is inconclusive, u are complaining about the mealie meal but u have a billionaire president who could have bought some mealie meal abena PF were distributing GBMs mealie meal but they lost. That analysis by #36 is also not useful because even if PF is the party to watch if we consider variable change in the hope that some parties will be dead by then (2011), PF will only be able to get a paltry 1200+ votes and even then we are being speculatively generous.
36- In terms of 2011 Presidential Elections, I urge UNIP+UPND to merge.This is because their candidates will lose votes given to their 2006 ally giving advantage to MMD.
Facts: MMD will split due leadership crisis in 2011.
The opposition party which will manage to get more votes from existing pro MMD areas will win the elections provided the continue to hold on the thier power base now.
PF + UNIP + UPND = Defeat 4 MMD
MMD wins Milanzi seat
The ruling MMD has won the Milanzi parliamentary seat with an overwhelming majority
MMD candidate Reuben Banda polled 5,065 votes beating his closest rival Ahmed Randela of UNIP who got 2,387 votes.
UPND’s Chimwala Phiri came third with 2,303 votes.
PF candidate Peter Phiri was fourth with 688 votes, while Francis Phiri of FDD got 278 votes
Remember what I wrote about HH`s UPND having failed to win any bye elections and yet his cadres keep dreaming that he`ll be the next president.
Pankoloko, you know iwe first did you do your BA pa CBU or UNZA? I heard you sometime back mentioning something like that. Anyhow do not answer the question if you are uncomfortable doing it on the blog we can pick it up later somewhere. For now Milanzi namusenda, twasumina, twaya mukuchita strategise for the next by-election after mwaipaya na umbi kabili Tilyenji was saying you guys killed Dr Njovu (but in politics, there are jokes eh, this was the most laughable matter in this week).
there we go again,MMD takes the day.count the total opposition votes against the MMD votes,you see that the opposition votes are more.and so will it be always,only united will defeat a ruling party.if the oopposition would filed one candidate and put individual selfish ambitions aside,it is easy to defeat the ruling party.in 2001 MMD would have been kicked out if the opposition had been united.come 2011,same story if there wont be unity.
Guys let us not always want the opposition to rule.Sometimes its good to support the opposition and let it exist as such.Oppositions are also important to keep the checks and balances on the GVT.The problem has always been opposition attacking the ruling party on personal issues without offering alternatives and better policies.All parties should be looked at as crucial in a democracy.The issue here is to elect suitable individuals to help develop our country.We should dare not make another mistake.One leader took us backwards and as at now i think it is fair to say we have covered some ground but we can still do better- so lets do it
Off topic people.
Please help. What has happened to live radio streams on Coppernet? What has one got to do listen live now?
let the pf leader think twist he has bad laungwa that is every bad to us people who voted
i dont like him at all he is a bad father he cant govern us
PF WILL LOSS WITH A SMALL MARGIN