UPND Leader Hakainde has congratulated Alliance partner National Democratic Congress for scooping the Roan constituency by-election.

Mr. Hichilema congratulated newly elected MP, Engineer Chishala for putting up a spirited fight in the Constituency.

He thanked party members and supporters who joined the UPND in supporting and voting for the NDC.

“We all know who is causing the country untold misery, let’s unite and democratically remove them from the driving seat”, Mr. Hichilema added.

And Democratic Party President Harry Kalaba has congratulated the NDC and UPND for winning the Roan Parliamentary by elections.

Mr. Kalaba expressed hope that people’s democratic wishes will continue to be respected.

The Patriotic Front says it will be going back to Roan Constituency to thank the people after yesterday’s parliamentary by election won by the National Democratic Congress.

Party Secretary General Davies Mwila said deapite the result not going their way, they still receive it with thanks.

Mr. Mwila who congratulated the NDC and UPND for their joint victory in Roan Constituency by way of a protest vote that has been handed to the Patriotic Front said the party shall re-group, re-strategize and re-launch itself in Roan.

He told a media briefing that the party will carry out a postmortem of this painful setback and we will ensure that it regain its footprint in the Constituency.

“Most importantly, we know the issues that led to this protest vote, we will go back and listen to ensure they are attended to. We will take time to listen to our people including those who have been continuously fed on deceit”, he added.

“The people have spoken otherwise in the case of Roan Constituency. This is what democracy is all about; the people have a right to make their choice and we respect that”, Mr. Mwila said.

Meanwhile Mr. Mwila said the PF is highly thrilled by its impressive performance in the 9 by elections that were conducted country-wide.

Out of the 9 by-elections conducted country-wide, Patriotic Front won 6, FDD won 1, NDC got 1, And UPND also only managed to salvage 1 which Mr. Mwila said shows that the PF development agenda spearheaded by President Edgar Lungu continues to blow an unstoppable wind of change across former opposition strongholds.

He said the PF popularity is still trending upwards across the nation

“We are deeply humbled by this development and we thank the people in areas that were previously considered UPND strongholds for accepting the PF Development agenda”, he said.

The Opposition National Democratic Congress grabbed the Roan Parliamentary Seat from the Patriotic Front beating them by 3, 132 votes.

Fresh from Celebrating the victory in the Kafue Council Chairperson by election, the PF through its Candidate Joel Chibuye only managed 5, 533 votes losing to NDC’s Joseph Chishala who polled 8, 665.

People’s Alliance for Change candidate Chama Mwansa only managed 210 votes in third position while UPPZ Candidate Morgan Banda came out fourth with 143 Votes.

A total of 14, 701 votes were cast with 150 ballots rejected.

Roan Constituency returning Officer Emmanuel Makulila declared Mr. Chishala the duly elected Member of Parliament in the early hours of today.

Meanwhile, the Patriotic Front Candidate Charles Chalwe scooped the Bahati Parliamentary by election also held yesterday.

Mr. Chibuye polled 11, 481 votes against his closest rival UPNDs Justine Bwalya who polled 2, 381 votes.

UPPZ Candidate Clement Mwila was third with 1, 337 votes followed by FDDs Emmanuel Chanshi with 205 votes while People’s Alliance for Change candidate Isaac Lukwesa was last with 176.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate Joseph Chishala has scooped the Roan parliamentary seat.

Roan Constituency Returning Officer Emmanuel Makulila declared Mr Chishala as a duly elected Roan Member of Parliament after polling 8, 665 votes to beat Joel Chibuye of the ruling PF who polled 5, 533 votes.

And UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema has congratulated the Alliance partner NDC for scooping the Roan constituency by-election.

“Special congratulations to newly elected member of parliament, Engineer Chishala and my brother Dr Chishimba Kambwili for putting up a spirited fight. Together we shall make it,” Mr Hichilema said.

“Many thanks also go to our party members and supporters who joined us in supporting and voting for our colleague from NDC. We all know who is causing the country untold misery, let’s unite and democratically remove them from the driving seat,” he wrote on Facebook

“Mwabombeni abena Roan.”

Meanwhile the PF has retained the Bahati seat after beating the UPND.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia has said that the delay in the announcement of election results winners for the Roan and Bahati constituencies is due to the fact that several polling stations have not yet delivered the results to the Totalling Centre for Collation and final announcement.

According to the statement made available to the media, ECZ said that the announcement of election results requires that all polling Stations in a given election deliver results of each polling station at the Totaling Centre.

In the case of Roan Constituency, movement of Presiding Officers to the Totalling Centre was restricted due to unruly cadres who have resorted to violently attacking Commission vehicles.

The Commission said that the attacks have now forced the Commission to delivers results to the Totalling Centre with the assistance of Police escorts. The pace at which delivery of results to the Totalling Centre was taking place was delaying the process.

The Commision further explained that, the terrain in some areas of Roan Constituency was difficult to traverse due to the heavy downpour which occurred last night.

In the case of Bahati Constituency, the heavy downpour which occurred last night had caused flooding which is slowing down the pace at which vehicles can move to bring Presiding Officers to the Totalling Centre.

Unofficial and unreliable reports online from political parties facebook pages seem to indicate that PF has retained the Bahati seat but lost the Roan seat.

Voting in the Luanshya April 11th Roan parliamentary by-election has closed at 18:00 hours with the counting of ballot getting underway soon after that.

Luanshya District Electoral officer Timothy Mambalakata said all the 43 polling stations had opened at 06:00 hours and closed at exactly 18:00 hours.

He stated that the counting of the ballot papers would be done at Roan Antelope Secondary school which is the rotating center for the constituency.

Mr. Mambalakata who is also Luanshya Municipal Council Town Clerk was impressed with the turnout of voters in the by-election which he described as fair.

He further noted that he was impressed with the peaceful atmosphere that characterized the voting exercise.

He said the voter turnout which started on a low pace in the morning gained momentum by midday with a good number of voters having cast their votes.

He said no incidences of violence where recorded in all the 14 wards and 43 polling stations of Luanshya constituency.

He indicated that although the constituency experienced some rainfall in the slightly before the closing of the polling stations, a good number of voters had already exercised their rights.

Four candidates from four political parties are contesting the Roan parliamentary seat.

The four are Joel Chibuye of the Patriotic Front, Joseph Chishala PF the Nationa Democratic Congress NDC, Morgan Banda of the United Prosperous and Peaceful Zambia UPPZ and Chama Mwansa of the People’s alliance for Change PAC.

The seat fell vacant after the speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini nullified the seat following a point of order raised over Chishimba Kambwili continued attendance to parliament after his expulsion from the Patriotic Front.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) and several civil society organisations monitoring the Bahati Parliamentary by-election have described the voter turnout out as fair.

Mansa District Electoral Officer Sombo Kaela said that despite the heavy rains experienced this morning, the turnout has been fair.

Mrs Kaela has told ZNBC’s Paul Shalala that almost all Polling Stations opened at exactly 06:00 hrs although a few delayed due to the rains.

She has revealed that some Polling Stations which opened after 06:00 hours will have extended time for them to compensate on the lost time.
Mrs Kaela says voting went on peacefully across Bahati Constituency.

And Governance, Elections, Advocacy, Research Services -GEARS- Initiative Luapula Province Anchor-person Jerson Senkwe said the turnout at Polling Stations was affected by the rains.

Mr Senkwe said his organisation has seen impressive queues outside Polling Stations across Bahati Constituency.

But the Foundation for Democratic Process -FODEP says it has observed a low voter turnout out.

FODEP Luapula Province Chairperson Ethel Mwanza said very few people have showed up at Polling Stations due to heavy rains experienced this morning.

The rains which started at around 03:00 hours this morning, led to few voters showing up at Polling Stations at 06:00 hours when voting started.

At Council Guest House which is the largest Polling Station in the whole Constituency, only eight voters were outside when the Presiding Officer Sharon Chama declared the station open.

But the number of voters started increasing after 07:00 hours when the rains reduced, and people queued at all the three streams.

And at Kaole Primary School Polling Station, 26 voters were on the queues when the Presiding Officer Vincent Mushota opened the Polling Station at 06:00hrs.

All the three streams at the Polling Station had people queuing and the first voter cast his ballot at 06:05hrs.

Five candidates from the ruling Patriotic Front, opposition UPND, PAC, UPPZ and FDD are vying for the Bahati Parliamentary seat.

The Constituency has 43 thousand registered voters spread across 55 Polling Stations.

Voting is expected to end at 18:00 hours.

And in Roan constituency in Luanshya, despite the peaceful campaigns held ahead of the by-election, the area today recorded violence where suspected Patriotic Front cadres attacked members of the opposition National Democratic Congress who were alleged to have been carrying offensive weapons in their vehicle.

According to a statement released to the media by NDC Deputy spokesperson Saboi Imboela, PF brought in cadres from intercity with Bowman Lusambo commandeering them through the night and this morning violently beat NDC cadres and that residents on numerous occasions saw Hon. Lusambo distributing money on voting day and intimidating residents.

The statement further said that damage had been done to several NDC members and vehicles that were accredited as monitors and polling agents, respectively.

The statement went on further to say that NDC members also identified Lands Minister Jean Kapata as having led a team to an NDC member’s house were NDC officials: constituency secretary: Misheck Kanyanta, constituency chairlady: Bertha Mutale. and the driver Joseph Chileshe were camped.

“The PF cadres climbed the fence, destroyed the gate and broke the door to the house. They were camped at the house awaiting for break of dawn to start assisting the polling monitors and agents. The officials are currently detained at Mpatamato police station “, the stateme concluded.

However, PF issued a statement later advising the public and all its members across the country to avoid taking the law into their own hands but report any suspected criminality to the police.

“The Patriotic Front (PF) has learnt of an incident where an NDC vehicle carrying suspected criminals and machetes in Luanshya were allegedly attacked by suspected PF cadres. We continue to call on all members of the public including Party members across the Country to avoid taking the law in their own hands but report any suspected criminality such as the carrying of offensive weapons to the Zambia Police,” stated PF media director Sunday Chanda.

“PF is, however, not shocked that NDC has resorted to employing criminality as this was confirmed by Mr. Chishimba Kambwili who warned his imaginary vote riggers that they would get killed in the polling stations. While we understand Mr. Kambwili’s desperation, we refuse to believe that NDC must hire criminals and carry machetes in what has generally been a peaceful campaign in Roan Constituency. PF continues calling for peace and non-violence as people go to vote today, 11th April 2019.”