PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema has appealed to the electorate to vote for UPND in the Mongu District Mayoral by-election in Western Province in order to continue enjoying peace, law and order.

In a statement posted on his official Facebook page, Monday, President Hichilema encouraged citizens in the areas where the by-elections would be held this Thursday to continue maintaining peace and order.

“Fellow citizens, as you might be aware, the country is this week (Thursday) going for by-elections at the levels of Mayors and councillors. The elections will be held in Northern, Western and Southern provinces. We take this moment to encourage citizens of these particular areas to continue maintaining peace and order. We voted for law and order, and so far we are doing very well. And this is why yesterday (Sunday) when we left Mongu, Western province we indicated to our brothers and sisters in that province to vote for the UPND candidate as Mayor. The peace that we are currently enjoying is because of UPND. The law and order is the work of UPND. In order [for] this to continue the people should vote for the Mayor candidate for UPND,” he said.

And President Hichilema said the opposition should be allowed to campaign freely and that no one should stop or harass them even if they meet with government officials.

“And we are optimistic that every well meaning citizen values the need for peace and not violence which was the order of the day in the past. Without peace, nothing can be achieved and it is for this reason that we ask citizens who will be voting this Thursday to vote peacefully. We also want the opposition to campaign freely and no one should stop them and even if they meet with us, no one should harass them but wish them well. Ours is to exchange ideas for the greater good of Zambia and not exchanging punches or indeed hacking each other with pangas,” said President Hichilema.

“Once more, thank you to the people of Mongu for accepting change and assuring us of unwavering support and we can safely say that through you, Zambia is set to benefit from our clear intent on how resources must be shared. Come Thursday, ma Lozi kaufela, mwe bena Northern and nobana Southern vote for UPND which is bringing about your desired future like free education, jobs for teachers, health workers, ended violence and working hard to unite Zambia.”