VETERAN politician Vernon Mwaanga has urged Zambians to disregard opinion polls being conducted by various organisations projecting that President Edgar Lungu and the PF will emerge victorious in the upcoming general election.

In a statement, Wednesday, Mwaanga said the opinion polls were false and misleading as the country had no credible record of having opinion polls.

He added that it was premature to make such wild predictions.

“The so-called opinion polls, making predictions about who will win, are false and misleading. With three weeks to go before the tripartite elections on 12th August, it is premature to make such wild predictions. Even in the most developed countries, opinion polls have often been wrong. What more with Zambia, which has had no credible record of having opinion polls, my uncertainty grows. I can only urge the people of Zambia to disregard and dismiss these polls. The 12th August, is not too far and we shall soon find out how wrong they are,” said Mwaanga.

“The expertise required to conduct credible election polls is not yet available in Zambia. That is why a number of countries have banned opinion polls, so as not to confuse the voters. A lot can happen between now and 12th August, 2021.”

The latest opinion poll conducted by the Consortium of Zambian Thought Leaders projected that President Lungu was likely to win the 2021 General Election with a 60 percent lead.

The opinion poll predicted that UPND president Hakainde Hichilema would emerge second in the race with 36 percent of the projected votes. The opinion poll further projected that Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) president Nevers Mumba would occupy the third position with 2.9 percent of the projected votes. Other political parties participating in the polls have been handed a paltry one point four percent combined votes in the opinion poll.

Another opinion poll produced by an organisation called “The Political Science Association of Zambia” conducted in five provinces showed that President Lungu was likely to win with 44.5 percent of votes. Hichilema would score 30.33 percent, Fred M’membe of the Socialist Party would come third at 2.61 percent, Mumba would get 2.13 percent. Democratic Party (DP) president Harry Kalaba would get 1.93 and People’s Alliance for Change (PAC) Andyford Banda would get 1.23 percent. While the rest of the candidates would get less than one percent each.