Polls have opened in the four parliamentary by-elections taking place in the country.
Voters in Chipata central, Solwezi East, Kafulafuta and Mkushi North constituencies are voting today for their parliamentary representatives.
The four seats fell vacant following the nullification and resignations of Members of Parliament to join the ruling Patriotic Front.
Voting which opened at 06:00 hours is expected to close at 18:00 hours this evening.
Six candidates are contesting the elections in Mkushi North constituency namely Bernard Nshimbi of UNIP, Ingrid Mpande for the Patriotic Front (PF), Jonathan Kapungwe standing on the MMD ticket, National Restoration Party (NAREP)’s Albert Kaweya, and Felix Chisanga contesting as an independent.
In Solwezi, three candidates drawn from United Party for National Development (UPND), UNIP and PF are competing for the Solwezi East parliamentary seat.
These are Villie Lombanya, of UPND, Cephas Luweili, of UNIP and PF’s Peter Ilunga.
Those contesting the Chipata Central seat are UNIP%u2019s Elina Nyirenda, Lameck Mangani of the PF, NAREP’s Kazembe Daka, Penlope Nkunika an independent candidate and MMD’s Reuben Mtolo Phiri.
Those vying for the Kafulafuta seat are James Chishiba standing on the PF ticket, NAREP has Jimmy Kasabwa, and Brian Chitafu from UPND, while MMD’s Evelyn Mwanawasa withdrew from the race for health reasons.
OPPOSITION YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO MISS THIS ONE. PLEASE GRAB THOSE SEATS TO KEEP YOUR POSITION IN PARLIAMENT. WE HOW EVER KNOW THAT PF GOVERNMENT CAN NOT BE TRUSTED ON ISSUES OF RIGGING.
4 X KR6 million per by-election = KR 24 million (K24 billion)
wasted all because of defecting MPs. Politics of the belly
aa will see the outcome by the end of the day.
With the results we saw in Mufumbwe, Livingstone and Luangwa/Feira, I do not see a different outcome. The people of Zambia are very happy with the PF in govt. We might as well stop pretending to be in a multiparty democracy. We are back to KK’s one-party participatory democracy. Might as well give up Parliament to the PF. At this rate of bye-elections the opposition parties which, (unlike the ruling party) depend on own resources to fund costly campaigns will be bankrupt by 2016. Without sufficient money to bribe the majority (youth) voters with beer and “sweet talk” the opposition will be no much for PF with is well funded campaign teams/logistical support and Police-backed ruthless thugs totting guns where necessary. More people will be beaten. Worthy it?
You can’t put it more correctly than that. KK’s one party and one leader is back with a vengeance.
I DONT THINK PF CAN GET LESS THAN 3 SEATS OUT OF 4.
NO much blood was sheded or sacrifices..so i see some seats being taken by the Opposition
Evil minds always think everybody is as evil as they are.
PF be warned War will break if you try to do something stupid.You aren’t wanted at all that you know but pretend that all is well for you.Muibepafye
What can I say but to wait till the results are announced. Let the best candidate take the seat. All the best to all candidates.
Peace and Prosperity to Mother Zambia.
Its sad that the people of Zambia are having to be cheated by this rather lame Govt of the day. If your going to have by-elections in this manner, the President should have the guts to call a general election and dissolve parliament. Its well known that a sitting govt has the machinery to influence the results and they will in these too. Zambian must stand up and reclaim their country.
Have we started conceding defeat before the closing of voting time?
Conceding is not the issue…its the integrity of the country’s governing policies and the mandate that needs to be delivered by the sitting govt. At this present moment the sitting govt has shown very little in the way of delivering the mandate the people of Zambia put them in office for. Its clear that they have a different agenda, one that suggests and seems to be heading towards totalitarianism of power over its people.
What’s happening is as a result of the environment brought about by the opposition. Each and every move by the sitting party is opposed just for the sake of opposing. What do they do in such a case? Get the numbers in parliament to eliminate the element of unnecessary antagonism using by-election…
@Kamutengo,
Are you seriously advocating for a one party dictatorship?
Democracy indeed is the way forward… in a mature manner, not this nonsensical childish politicking we’ve been seeing lately. 2016 is not very far but the opposition is busy being petty instead of organizing themselves and preaching peace and the policies they’ll implement once in power. It’s a shame, some people will cry again in 2016. Be forewarned!!!
Not quite, thats were you are missing the point. The opposition is the reason why the sitting govt should simply put their heads down and do the work, let the results of the work speak for themselves. What we have is a govt that is too busy trying to justify each and every action by way of forcing its people to abide. We have a govt that is so big that there is NO clear accountability, separation of powers, specific job descriptions or lines of communication, right from the top to the bottom. Its as though each one for himself and let the rest suffer. The solution is there, we do not need this type of government of politics. Its very simple they have overloaded their car and its moving dangerously along the path where the people who gave them the mandate are standing and being left behind
RELAX LOMBE. IF PF IS AS BAD AS YOU THINK, WE WILL SEE THIS BY THE OUTCOME OF THE BY ELECTIONS. IF PF EMERGES VICTORIOUS THEN YOU MUST LEARN TO SHUT UP. INSTEAD OF BLAH..BLAH..BLAH..BLAH ALL THE TIME. I KNOW THE LIKES OF YOU WILL STILL SAY PF WINS BY RIGGING. VOTERS ARE NOT FOOLISH WHEN THEY SEE WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR IN PF. IF YOU CANT SEE ANY, TOO BAD. BUT THAT IS DEMOCRACY YOU ARE FREE TO KEEP AWAY.
In a way you’re right although the only problem is that the opposition they have is so brutal that they will try to gain political mileage on unbelievable things, e.g, too many accidents because pf is in power, army worms came as a punishment to those that voted pf just to mention a few examples. For this reason, PF are also concentrating on politicking. It’s a natural reaction to the current scenario they have found themselves in, even if it’s at the expense of resources meant for meaningful development. Let’s give these guys reasonable criticism, it will help them and the nation as a whole.
If this Govt is going to spend time worrying about comments such as that then one needs to ask whether they are serious about their work. This is a nonsensical excuse to divert attention from real issue. This Govt has failed to manage their budget, have created more ministerial jobs than any other government in Africa and world, has failed to address the plight of farmers, Businesses and new entrepreneurs, the only thing they have been successful at is implementing the Public Order Act, intimidating every Govt Dept to operate and discharge functions at their will and arresting anyone that voices an opinion. So I am not sure what is reasonable criticism if they can’t stomach an opinion.
I am not sure you’re assessing much Chisenga, from the sounds of your statements you actually don’t know the difference between a Bad Govt, an Incompetent Govt or Non performing Govt or the statement a Banana Republic. Maybe I can help you understand this sometime in the future. You live in Zambia?
PF stands for PEACE FUL
The opposition is struggling financially. It is a one-sided contest. With poverty levels so high, members’s contributions cannot go far. Even so-called rich people viz HH should be feeling the financial strain after so many by-elections within a short time from the big one in 2011. We know from experience that the ruling party does not face any financial constraints and has on its side a highly unprofessional police, judiciary and zealous characters ready to do anything for chibuku and occasional cash handouts, free public media (ZNBC) covering the whole country, public rallies anywhere anyday etc. We need a law to fund all opposition parties on some aggreed criteria and to bring back the freedom of expression. The PF will need this law one day, no matter how distant that future.
PF here we come
PF = 4 and Opposition = 0
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