THE Patriotic Front has emerged victorious in the Lukashya and Mwansabombwe parliamentary by-elections, which have seen former Law Association of Zambia president George Chisanga and Kabaso Kampampi becoming new entrants into the National Assembly.
In Lukashya, PF polled 13,431, UPND 2,684, PAC got 474 votes while UPPZ polled 147 votes. Leadership Movement polled 143 and the MMD was last with 114 votes.
In Mwansabombwe constituency, PF polled 6,478 while UPND got 1,522 votes, NAREP polled 400 votes, Leadership Movement with 285 and UPPZ managed 129 votes.
And President Edgar Lungu has urged the winners to ensure that they justify their victories in their respective constituencies.
“These by-elections arising from the unfortunate loss of lives of two wonderful souls were also a litmus test for our party’s popularity in Northern and Luapula provinces. That we have won the two seats show that our people in the two regions believe in our developmental agenda,” President Lungu said in a statement issued by his Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Isaac Chipampe.
He has told the two new members of parliament not to let the people down.
“Work hard in the remaining few months before the general elections. Don’t disappoint the people. Justify why you won,” President Lungu said.
He further congratulated the UPND for scooping five ward by-elections held yesterday and thanked the people of Kalengwa, Mwininyilamba, Mandombe, Kasongo, Lunyiwe, Chibanga, and Mushingashi wards in North-Western, Copperbelt and Lusaka provinces for voting for the Patriotic Front.
“l am delighted with the ward election results, especially in areas where we have not done well previously. This shows that our transformation agenda is being appreciated by our people,” said President Lungu.
And UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema has thanked the people that voted for the UPND candidates, adding that the party would use the loss to assess their performance and strive to do better in 2021.
“Fellow citizens, we wish to extend our heartfelt appreciation to our voters that cast their votes in our favour in yesterday’s by elections around the country. We sincerely thank them for bestowing us the trust to be their choice among many of our competitors that put up a spirited campaign. For those of our citizens that voted for our opponents, we sincerely believe that you will appreciate our message of hope, national unity and economic development in 2021, and vote for us. We will continue talking to you,” Hichilema stated in a Facebook posting.
“We also wish to congratulate our candidates for a courageous fight, amidst so many challenges they met along the way. Don’t lose hope, opportunities abound and change is coming. An endurance athlete’s most important motivation for competition is to win and to win big, but it also affords them an opportunity to identify areas they need to improve upon for the next race. Where we won, we will strive to win big next time and where we lost, we will assess our performance and strive to do better. There’s no time for bickering and blame games but for serious examination, correction and moving forward, because we don’t have the luxury of time.”
He also congratulated winners from other political parties who participated in the by-election.
“Finally, we congratulate all our political opponents that participated in this epic race. Others like us won in certain areas, while others yet again like us, lost in other places. The biggest winners and our greatest heroes, were all the people that participated, and we congratulate them most sincerely. We now look forward to the 2021 election that must be conducted in a free atmosphere, without any form of intimidation, violence and corruption,” stated Hichilema.
