Veteran MPs Defeated in Primaries as Party Overrules Voters in Southern Province

LUSAKA/MONZE — Chief Choongo of the Tonga people of Monze District and Chief Sandwe of the Nsenga people of Lusangazi District issued separate warnings against the imposition of unpopular candidates on voters ahead of the August 13 general election, with their cautions arriving as it emerged that UPND’s provincial committee in Southern Province cancelled primary results that saw multiple incumbent MPs defeated by newcomers.

The two traditional leaders, speaking from different provinces, converged on the same core argument: forcing candidates on communities who have already expressed a preference is undemocratic, breeds voter apathy and historically drives popular figures to contest as independents, costing the very parties that impose candidates the seats they sought to protect. Chief Choongo said the pattern of imposition explained why Zambia had such large numbers of independent candidates in previous elections, noting that those independent races were typically caused by parties refusing to respect the will of the people. “Parties should respect the will of the people and adopt an individual that voters want, and not a situation where someone is imposed on them,” he said. Chief Sandwe said imposing candidates from outside constituencies who did not understand local dynamics was particularly harmful, producing representatives who consistently underperformed because they lacked genuine community connection.

The warnings arrived with direct institutional relevance. In Southern Province, several incumbent UPND members of parliament were defeated by newcomers during internal party primary elections for adoption. The defeated MPs included Jack Mwiimbu, Cornelius Mweetwa, Michelo Kasautu, Twambo Mutinta, Rodney Sikumba and Kafue’s Mirriam Chonya. Following those results, the UPND provincial committee cancelled the outcomes, stating that the structures had erred by using primary elections rather than the party’s approved ranking system. The cancellation has generated significant internal tension within the ruling party at precisely the moment it needs to consolidate for nomination week, with candidates who won primary votes now uncertain about their status and incumbent MPs whose positions had appeared threatened now potentially restored.

The broader concern raised by UPND front runner in Bwacha North Constituency Mike Moonga added a constituency accountability dimension to the candidate imposition debate. Moonga said voters are deeply unhappy with elected leaders who vanish after elections and only resurface during campaigns, a pattern he described as fuelling voter apathy and spreading misinformation across constituencies. He said the disconnect that emerges when members of parliament and ward councillors go absent from their areas allows rumours to fill the information vacuum and causes voters to lose trust in government programmes and proposed law reforms. “People feel used and dumped. They don’t see any benefits of electing leaders and this is killing those who want to serve genuinely,” he said. Moonga pledged monthly ward meetings, community radio updates and public CDF accountability reports if elected, and called on fellow aspirants who were not adopted to accept the outcome and support the party’s final candidate.

The candidate imposition concern connects directly to the cancellation of Southern Province results because the ranking system the provincial committee cited as the correct process is precisely the mechanism through which party leadership can influence outcomes that grassroots voting might produce differently. Primary elections, when they produce unexpected results, reveal genuine grassroots preferences. Ranking systems, administered by party structures, are more susceptible to the kind of leadership influence that traditional leaders and community members describe when they speak about imposition. The conflict between these two processes is not unique to Zambia, but its emergence in the week Parliament dissolved, when nomination decisions will be made within days, gives it immediate electoral consequences.

For the UPND, the Southern Province primary cancellation creates a reputational challenge that opposition formations will exploit. The ruling party has consistently positioned itself as a reform administration committed to democratic governance and rule of law. Cancelling grassroots primary results, regardless of the procedural justification, provides the opposition with a direct line of attack linking the government’s broader governance record to its own internal candidate selection practices. The chiefs’ warnings, issued independently and without partisan framing, give opposition formations additional authority to question whether the ruling party’s democratic credentials extend to its own internal operations.

For voters in constituencies where incumbent MPs were defeated in primaries, the uncertainty about who will appear on the ballot for the ruling party adds complexity to their electoral calculations. If the ranking system ultimately produces the same incumbents that grassroots primaries rejected, some of those voters may follow the independent candidate path that Chief Choongo identified as the natural consequence of imposition, further complicating the UPND’s seat calculations in a province where it has historically performed strongly. Nominations open May 18 and 19, at which point the practical consequences of the Southern Province decision will become visible in who files papers under the ruling party banner