David Cameron has been re-elected as Britain’s Prime Minister after his party, the Conservatives, defied opinion polls and won the general election as as defeated opposition leaders Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage all resign from the leadership positions of their respective parties.
The Conservatives made gains in England and Wales and are forecast by the BBC to secure 331 seats in the Commons, giving them a slender majority.
The main opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband said he would stand down, saying his party must “rebuild” with a new leader.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who had been in a coalition with the Conservatives, has also said he will quit, with his party set to be reduced from 57 to 8 MPs.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage is also quitting after he failed to win his seat, losing by nearly 2,800 votes to the Conservatives.
The Conservatives have now won the 326 seats needed to form a majority administration, meaning they are able to govern without the need for a coalition or formal agreement with other parties.
The Labour leader Mr Ed Miliband today announced he was quitting as Labour leader after calling David Cameron to congratulate him on his extraordinary election victory.
He insisted he took full responsibility for the dreadful night of results, which saw big names including Ed Balls, Douglas Alexander and Jim Murphy swept out by the Tories and the SNP.
He thanked his supporters for their backing, selfies and the ‘most unlikely cult ever’ Milifandom, as he confirmed Harriet Harman will take over as acting leader.
‘I am truly sorry I did not succeed. I did my best for five years,’ he said. ‘We’ve come back before and this party will come back again.’
Mr Miliband said: ‘Britain needs a strong Labour Party, Britain needs a Labour Party that can rebuild after this debate so we can have a government that stands up for working people again.
‘And now it is time for someone else to take forward the leadership of this party. So I am tendering my resignation, taking effect after this afternoon’s commemoration of VE Day at the Cenotaph.
‘I want to do so straight away because the party needs to have an open and honest debate about the right way forward, without constraint.’
And Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader also resigned as Lib Dem leader after seeing his party all but destroyed by his decision to take them into coalition with the Tories.
The former Deputy Prime Minister admitted his party had suffered a ‘cruel and punishing night’ in which he was one of just eight of the 57 MPs to survive.
Nigel Farage of the Ukip also quit as Ukip leader after failing in his bid to become an MP – but hinted he could make a comeback after a summer break.
The straight-taking Ukip leader had promised to step aside if he did not succeed in becoming MP for South Thanet against the Tories.
I think the Opposition in the UK should exchange notes with the opposition in Zambia to maintain some sanity. They both have one thing they can learn from each other.
The opposition in the UK can learn from parties like UPND on how not to trust and believe in opinion polls.
And the Opposition leaders in Zambia can learn from their UK counter parts on how NOT to become a Serial Presidential Candidate after one defeat. You resign to give chance to others to try their luck at the wheel.
How I wish it could be like this in 2016. HH goes back to run Grant thornton just maybe he can pay my late father,s benefits. This man is evil. atleast I have evidence
The difference is – The election in Zambia are marred by corruption and intimidation etal
You get what you asked for.
I don’t blame the oppositions in Zambia.
You will best asked to question the methods and lengths it takes for the ECZ to announce the results- There is the recipe already, and therefor its mere facade
You cant want to claim to demand a new air of jacket if you don’t have a shirt.
Makes no sense at all.
This is the consequence of not the apposition but of the practice of elections in Zambia- until you fix that stop throwing stones at the oppositions.
Thanks
Bb2014
Can the one that has scored a double brace at electoral loses learn from Miliband, clegg and Faragh and step aside…
Its just the most honourable thing to do.
nomba ba kachema, katwishi
HH must surely give way to others to lead the party. I think he constantly loses because he is not accepted by the majority. The party is ok and can do better without the topmost leadership. HH please take a leaf from UK.
Agreed with Mushota, additionally on the differences is fact that the electorate are an educated lot (like Mushota BB2014) with a clear conviction of what their vote is based on when cast. It’s not like the Zambian scenario where glaring anti democracy vices and mob injustices are tolerated to carry the day!
MMD Chief fimofimo, THAT’S A FAR CRY IN OUR CASE. OUR OPPOSITION LEADERS HAVE NO SHAME LET ALONE PRINCIPLES. HH AND OTHER OPPOSITION LEADERS WILL HANG ON TO PARTY PRESIDENCY TILL-KINGDOM-COME. ASKING OUR OPPOSITION LEADER TO RESIGN IS ASKING FOR TOO MUCH. THEY SIMPLY DO NOT POSSESS ANY PRINCIPLES.
@1.2 MUSHOTA. ZAMBIA HAS ADVANCED IN TERMS OF DEMOCRACY AS COMPARED TO EVEN SOUTH AFRICA AND BOTSWANA. IN ZAMBIA SINCE THE INCEPTION OF PF THINGS HAVE IMPROVED SO MUCH NO ONE TEMPERS WITH THE ECZ. THEY WORK MORE INDEPENDENTLY THAN ANY SIMILAR BODY IN AFRICA. AND THEY ARE STILL IMPROVING. DON’T LISTEN TO POLITICAL FAILURES LIKE HH. HH WILL EVER SMELL A RAT EVEN WHERE A COW ENTER HIS BEDROOM AND SPEWS COW-DUNG. HE NEEDS A LOT OF POLITICAL HELP TO FIX HIS NOSES.
I agree with Mushota.
The problem is the ECZ and parties in power, PF & MMD. Remember 2001 same scenario. Mazoka lost unfairly. Even in Nigeria which is 14 times bigger than Zambia by population (180m to 13m) and more than 30m pipo cast votes, the winner Gen Buhari was declared within two days. Why take 7 days to declare someone a winner, cooking up figures? ‘Ati’ due rains? Nigeria, being along the equitorial, is ‘rainier’ than Zambia. ‘Ati’ Helicopters cud not collect ballots in time due to bad weather in Mafinga? How did the candidates campign there using light copters compared to ZAF military copters used by ECZ?
So if war broke out with say Tanzania, Zambia will wait for rains to subside before reacting while Tanzania is bombarding Mafinga. What a fallacy!
I totally agree with Mushota, as long as we have an unfair electoral system there will be no trust or legitimacy in the outcome of elections. Those who care to remember will recall that the late Sata complained bitterly about the outcome of the 2006 presidential bye elections and it took him 10 years of trying before he became victorious. HH should remain there because he is more experience in identifying electoral flaws and has an increasing support base….2016 will be his best chance of winning. He has been preparing for this moment for 10 years.
…and it is worth noting that that opposition leaders who resigned did so because their parties had dwindling fortunes ie they performed worse than they did the last time. Why should HH resign when his party increased it’s percentage share of the votes from 18% to more than 47%?Had Labour Party or the Liberals increased their percentage share of their votes from what they got in the last elections their leaders wouldn’t have resigned
YOU DONT SEEM TO KNOW WHAT YPOURE SAYING. NOT SURE IF YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING EITHER.
Did you notice how the scottish voted. They are very tribal.
AMAZING. THE OPPOSITION LEADERS IN THESE DEMOCRACIES QUICKLY RESIGN ONCE THEY FAIL. BUT IN ZAMBIA, EVEN WHEN ONE FAILS FIVE TIMES. THEY CLING ON TO THE PRESIDENCE OF THOSE PARTIES.
Hmm, eh problem,you want to adopt european styles of governance and you want to emulate their styles.we are different.people in zambia vote pa chinso olo party symbol olo ifisele.The most brilliant person can run for president in zambia, with brilliant and workable plans but we wont vote for him.we will say ati tatwamwishiba,even other politicians will say he has just started politics and so he cant be trusted.we need an old fossil.these are the things why people in zambia dont quit even after losing. because the procedure is to be president requires that you show yourself several times before actually becoming one. So dont bring british standards here. we are different!! thats why i always tell you people to adopt our own ways of doing things.Pipo in zambia are just regurgitators
@zed patriot
You really surprise me at the level of ignorance you are portraying! Having an access to a laptop or computeris not proof of being knowledgeable. If you don’t understand somethin, LEAvE TO THOSE who do!!!!! Don’t compare UPND type of thinking and the way they do to what obtains in British politics!!!
Failing to win an election is failing to deliver,and the only option is to leave and let others try. It is not the margins determine the course of action and it is not the party that asks the person to leave as HH and you want, but on morals
New uneducated Zambian where are you? Can you see and realize that principled people resign when they fail to win and give chance to others to try, like in the UK not ka hh. Some Africans like hh, if he forces things one day he can rule but it will not to the highest standard, in the end refusing to leave office ati ni muyayaya.
That is what suppose to happen when u lose election u should step aside, but here we have NEVERS MUMBA who lost so badly still holding on to MMD leadership just for prestige and fund-raising using the name of MMD Presidency surely it disgraceful for a man who says is a man of God to be cheating the people that he will still do better next election when he knows he can not even win a ward election.
Please NEVERS MUMBA i appeal to you to have mercy for MMD Party by stepping down and allow another person take over to rebuild the MMD NOT yourself u have failed. If you are real the man of God get example from Labour Party Leader in UK who stepd aside for the sake rebuilding the Party and unity for the party to face next election strong
I totally conquer with you.Let him give Mutati a chance,several people I’ve spoken to have indicated that thy would MMD a chance if Mutati a chance
Lets hear what the UPND and other opposition apparatchiks have to say about this story….I hear them already say, “but Sata lost 3 times before….” or “zoz are zoz me am anaza!” or “Zambia is not the same as the UK”…..pa Zed ni pa comedy……
The elections were not free and fair….
A large number of individuals in Zambia do not mind backing losers. The more times “certain” candidates lose, the more his followers adore him.
I don’t get it. Maybe they are also habitual losers in life and therefore identify with the term.
Beauty of true democracy!
A majority of these parties are built on some unique ideology and people become members after identifying their ideals with these party ideologies. There is no sense of personal ‘ownership’ of the party.
Relinquishing one’s leadership position is easy as one feels they have not best (‘failed to’) projected the party manifesto (vision) to the electorate, hence leaving the mantle to someone else. When you fail you leave.
My wish is for Zambian (if not African) democracy to evolve to this level so that the plethora of ‘personal-to-holder’ parties which seem to have a stranglehold on the national body politic can be gotten rid of, once and for all.
Long live UNIP…
You sum it all and probably we would get to a cessation of swinging from one party to another!
UK and Zambia (Africa) are so different in politics. Most candidates in Africa win after being serial presidential candidates. Take an example of Michael Sata, former Senegalese president and I think current Kenyan President etc. Empirical evidence is there to show the difference between UK, USA (developed countries) and Africa. You need to have basis for comparison for you to have sound judgment.
We force things in Africa that’s why we fail. Maybe you are just born an advisor you continue failing like hh. Look at Kalusha he was good at getting orders and played nicely, now he wants wamuyaya.
This trend is precisely what we should be working to dismantle. Losing several times does not make you any better!
Politics (democracy) should be politics (democracy)regardless. Saying UK/USA and African politics are different is horribly defeatist…
Ba Be Objective, no not Kenya president
LET’S MOVE ON AND FORGET THE NEGATIVE PAST OR JUST USE IT TO ADVANCE IN POLITICAL MATURITY AS POINTS OF REFERENCE. HANGING ON TO POWER BECAUSE SATA DID WHAT ISN’T GONNA BRING THAT MATURITY. HOWEVER, COPYING GOOD POLITICAL PRACTICES WILL DELIVER THAT MATURITY AND HENCE, DEVELOPMENT DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY. SATA IS NO LONGER HERE BUT HE WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR THE WAY HE HAS LAID A STRONG FOUNDATION FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT WHICH IS NOW A STANDARD FOR ZAMBIA. ANY LEADER WHO OCCUPIES PLOT 1 WILL ALWAYS STRIVE TO BRING DRASTIC CHANGES WITH 1 OR 2 YEARS BECAUSE WE HAVE SEEN THAT IT IS POSSIBLE. 5 YEARS IS JUST TOO LONG A TIME TO WAIT.
@ Ex-UPND Cadre… Uhuru Kenya won at second atttempt, be objective…..Buhari of Nigeria won after 4 attempts at presidency!
I am sure some section of society will say Sata lost lost three times. If you lose it means people do not want you.
Some people here thinking everything a white politician does is correct. Please!! that’s how they do things. Don’t copy everything. tell me about hillary Clinton she is in the number one democracy lost to Obama many years back but she still wants to stand. Africans everything is about copying. Ati because the English/British are doing it like this then let’s also do it that way.
In the UK both leaders and the led are principled. And you cannot woo voters with chibuku or sugar in the UK. Further their elections are clean from beginning to the end unlike in Zambia where elections are tainted with malpractices. The fact that court cases are the order of the day after elections is a clear testimony that Zambian elections are nothing but a fraud. It is therefore impossible that people, especially of the cursed African race, who lose unfairly to stepdown.
abo!!! Mwabamvela??? Na vi ma word vikulu-vikulu to explain away their leaders’ clear lack of principles/morality!!!! Listen to Ed Miliband take full responsibility for the loss – not blame others – and hand the party back to the members so that they choose someone/people who can lead it back to its greatness! THAT is a leader!!!
And Ed Miliband’s standing in society and qualifications teyakuwayawaya fye! Take a leaf from Kashiji’s @ 12!
What the writer did not say is that these leaders who have resigned have lost seats for their parties.
Neck had more than 40 MPs but he managed to get less than 10.
ED has lost more that 60 MPs in England and Scotland.He has performed far worse off than G. Brown Former PM.
Nigel stood as an MP on his party ticket and Lost. A leader who can not win a election a local election can not lead a Nation.
In the case of the UPND, HH has been on the raise in terms of votes gained, from just a few thousand to loosing by Hundreds, so how do you throw away a leader that is slowly gaining momentum.
So the UK issue is totally different from Zambia and people should not compare the tow.
Mazoka left him with 47 MPs today he has less than the MMD (that unpopular former ruling party)!!! HH lost 20 of those!!! By that measure, shouldn’t he be resigning too?? Michael Sata started with one and left his party IN POWER!!!! ….and it is still gaining more and more seats!!!! HH pales in this comparison you have chosen. Landako fimbi boyi!!!
You are sick with your analysis it seems you are a kaboi where you are. A new comer beats him and you say he is improving. Next time he (HH) can win by sympathy but is he going to be a good leader? By force or corrupting people who are disparate for chibuku will not take him anywhere in the books of good leaders who ruled Zed.
Please, please bantu advise HH, tapapata. Is he educated or nigog’a? Why pa Zed pali so?
Leave alone stepping down, which african loser congratulates the winner other than rigging claims, to say the least?
HH advises uk opposition leaders to hold on to power!!!!!!
At times perennial losers bounce back as landslide winners. However, analysis, whose authenacity I can’t verify shows that perennial losers make very harsh retaliatory presidents ( dictators). We can’t blame them since how else can one win unless he keeps trying?
Do opinion polls ever work, or they just mislead………just wondering
Advice for UPND.
Political rule number one: never blame the electorate.
Political rule number two: never call the electorate stup1d.
The UK guys should have learnt from Unip. You don’t give up
But why should we be carbon copies of the British? You guys here seem to think everything the British do we must also do. Thats how deep Cultural imperialism has entered your head. The colonisers are still ruling you despite having left the continent. They control your thinking so you will remain slaves forever
Bla bla bla bla bla…..just tell your boy to resign….Maybe Gary Nkombo or Syakalima may try and do better
I like the part that goes …… David Cameron pledges a “great Britain” after a surprise Conservative election victory, as rivals Ed Miliband, Nick Cleg and Nigel Farage all resign.
Emutima uyu… if its not working resign and pave way for someone more capable. Ifwe ni kafwanayo! 🙂 chuckles!!! I love politics!
Looks like most people are so negative about HH but Godfrey Miyanda lost more elections than any of the presidential candidates. So it’s not about losing here but what tribe is HH. Only Lungu, Mwanawasa and Chiluba never lost an election. But H.E President Lungu may be subjected to another elections. Definitely HH will step down should he lose again.
Gentlemen and ladies, everyone knows why HH lost the last election. It is tribe, full stop. With his personal achievements and relative youth, one would think zambians would give him a chance to govern. But no, he comes from the wrong side of the country. How do you explain people voting for someone who repeatedly says has no vision, was forced to become president, quaffs too much, did not campaign in all districts, did not attend the presidential debates etcetra….Stop overlooking the obvious!
HH is the only man capable of delivering victory to the UPND hence no need to replace him . HH forward .
Baba a MMD Chief Bootlicker mwa itaya!
Our friends do not ascend to power for the benefit of giving jobs to tribesmen, relatives, friends and girlfriends, but to serve their nation diligently. You do not hear of their children getting involved in clandestine activities, smuggling and get involved in dubious deals. So its not only about opposition parties taking a leaf from the UK.
Until level playing field is attained in our case, it is unreasonable to compare with the UK.
Did anyone notice how scotland voted. They must be tribalistic.
You have never worked with me. Am tribalistic na mo reen.
How can one resign when they lead a Nashala Neka Party. Who takes over from Miyanda, Nawakwi, Chipimo, Big words Mpombo, The Muti man, Milupi, Mulongoti, Summer and Winter…etc it is personal to holder. You fund the ParTE, and it is yours for keeps