Spokesperson for the Nevers Mumba led MMD faction, Caphas Mukuka says the former ruling party is concerned with the poor voter turnout in the Kafue council chairperson by-elections held on Thursday.

In a statement, Mukuka called on the ECZ to address the issue of voter apathy before the 2021 general elections.

“We note that there was low voter turnout. The issue of voter apathy is something that we must collectively address as we draw closer to the 2021 Presidential and General elections. We challenge the ECZ, to see to it that as many people as possible take part in elections going forward,” Mukuka said.

“It is gratifying to note that there were less incidences of violence in this by election compared to the recent Sesheke election. We commend the parties who took part for rising above the bar. We in the MMD are convinced that it is possible to have violence free elections. We are even more convinced that the more we eliminate violence from election the greater the chances of larger turnouts.”

Meanwhile, Mukuka said the Police should learn lessons from the Kafue by-election on how to handle political violence.

“The Police Command should pick up as many lessons as possible from Kafue and transplant them to the other elections. We challenged the police to deal with issues of political violence and hooliganism decisively, so as to smoothen the way to peaceful and democratic future elections,” he said.

And the MMD has congratulated the PF for scooping the Kafue chairperson seat.

“On behalf of the MMD President Dr Nevers Mumba, and the entire MMD fraternity, we would like to congratulate the Patriotic Front (PF) for winning the hotly contested Kafue Chairperson by elections,” said Mukuka.