NAMWALA Member of Parliament (MP) Major Robbie Chizyuka says the United Party for National Development (UPND) should support President Rupiah Banda for the 2011 Presidential elections and not Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata whose support base is weakening.
And the newly launched Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) has said the Pact is fast losing ground because both Mr Sata and UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema are separately campaigning for the presidency.
Major Chizyuka said it was clear that the Patriotic Front (PF) was losing support in Luapula Province.
The Namwala MP said for now the UPND should support President Banda so that in 2016 Southern, Western, Central, and North-Western provinces could support a UPND presidential candidate.
He said the UPND should also find another leader other than Mr Hichilema to contest the 2016 elections.
“In 2016 Southern, Western, Central and North-Western provinces should field one presidential candidate,” he said.
He said, however, with the recently launched ADD it is doubtful that the UPND would still remain strong in Western Province.
“Mr Sata has more sophisticated negotiating skills. Mr Hichilema has given away one province to the PF. In the last by -election in Milanzi, Hichilema gave away Eastern Province to the PF despite the UPND being stronger going by the election results of 2006,” he said.
He said the resolutions of the Luapula Province meeting had vindicated him because he did not agree that the PF leader should be president of the Pact or Zambia.
He said Mr Hichilema had now lost elections three times and that it was time for the opposition party to find another leader.
[pullquote]“Mr Sata has more sophisticated negotiating skills. Mr Hichilema has given away one province to the PF. In the last by -election in Milanzi, Hichilema gave away Eastern Province to the PF despite the UPND being stronger going by the election results of 2006,” he said.[/pullquote]
“Even going by the results of the just ended elections in Mufumbwe, the UPND can’t claim to be dominant in North-Western Province. When you look at the results the difference is only about 300 votes,” he said.
“The politics of UPND should be about supporting Rupiah Banda in 2011 other than support Sata,” he said.
ADD president Charles Milupi said that the supporters of the Pact were waiting for the announcement of the presidential candidate and predicted there would be a split after the announcement.
Mr Milupi said in an interview that Mr Sata would be rejected in Southern Province while Mr Hichilema would be rejected on the Copperbelt, Luapula and Northern provinces if adopted.
Mr Milupi, who resigned his seat as Luena Independent MP last week to propel his candidacy in the presidential election next year, said the pact would not be a factor and projected a collapse going by what the people have said in the countryside.
He said the strength of the UPND had been going down since the death of late president Anderson Mazoka and the party has since surrendered its popularity in Lusaka, Central, Western and North-Western provinces to the ruling party and the PF.
Mr Milupi said ADD was invited by the Pact but he demanded that the policies should be harmonised which they objected to and therefore decided to launch to avoid falling in a similar trap.
Mr Milupi wondered where the Pact would get votes in Luena constituency when it got 250 votes in the whole constituency in 2006 where the MMD got 4000 and he got 6,500 votes.
“So what exactly has changed? People should go to Southern Province and even Western Province if they want to know the feelings of the people,” Mr Milupi said.
