Africa-Press – Zambia. The opposition United Party for National Development (UPND), in Livingstone has retained the Maramba Ward seat after its candidate emerged victorious in yesterday’s by election.
UPND candidate Evans Sakala got 578 votes, while his closest rival Florence Samasumo of the ruling Patriotic Front (PF), got 465 votes and National Restoration Party ( NRP ) representative Brian Siamuluwa got 19 votes.
Returning Officer Peter Madubeko announced the results at Maramba Community Hall on Monday, adding that a total of 1070 votes were cast, of which four (4), were rejected. During the campaign period, Mr Sakala pledged to address sanitation challenges within the ward.
The by – election was preceded by peaceful campaigns from all the political parties contesting for the seat. The Maramba Ward seat fell vacant after UPND Councillor Moses Simbaya resigned in September 2020. Mr. Simbaya said he had been offered a scholarship to further his education abroad.
And the Ruling Patriotic Front (PF) has scooped the Kaimbwe ward seat in the just ended local government by-election in Kasempa district of North-western province.
PF’s Keagan Shimikila polled 356 against his closest rival Innocent Kakona of UPND who got 228 out of 602 total vote cast with nine rejected votes.
Mr Shimikila said the people of Kaimbwe and the province at large have realised that they made a mistake in 2016 by voting for the opposition UPND.
“People have realized that in 2016 they made a mistake by voting for the opposition and now they have made the right decision by voting for the ruling party,” Mr Shimikila added.
Stating that the ward had been lagging behind in terms of development under the councilor from the opposition UPND party, Mr Shimikila urged the residents of Kamibwe ward to work with him for development to come to the ward.
Meanwhile , Patriotic Front campaign Manager Davies Kanyakula disclosed that the ruling party will rescue the people of Kaimbwe from under development. Mr Kanyakula further disclosed that winning the first election of 2021 is a sign of confidence that people still have in the ruling party.
” We have won the first election in 2021,come the general elections we are actually going to carry the day,” he added.
Mr Kanyakula assured the party that in the forthcoming general elections the party will scoop more seats at all levels.
The Kaimbwe seat fell vacant after the area councilor of UPND Thompson Changamuka resigned and was being contested for by PF candidate Keagan Shimikila and UPND candidate Innocent Kakona.
Kaimbwe has 1,550 total number of registered voters.
And in in Lumezi District, the ruling Patriotic Front has scooped the Kamimba ward Local Government by-election. PF candidate Blaston Ngoma polled 1,691 votes while his closest counterpart, Mvula Timeyo of the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) , polled 559 votes. National Restoration Party’s (NAREP) Phiri Davies got a paltry 194 votes. Returning officer for Kamimba ward Micheal Ngulube declared Mr Ngoma as the duly elected councillor for the ward at about 23:15 hours yesterday.
“I therefore declare that I have, in accordance with the law, ascertained the results of the poll in the said ward and have been given to Ngoma Blaston of Patriotic Front 1, 691, Mvula Timeyo of the United Party for National Development 599 votes,” he said.
And speaking after the declaration, Lumezi District’s Patriotic Front Chairperson Clement Mwale said people of Kamimba ward have elected a candidate who will continue to spearhead development in the area.
“I am happy that we put up a good fight and most importantly that people have voted for us because it is the development that is fighting for us, we are not fighting using our hands but people can see the development which PF has done over the past nine years, so it’s the development which is speaking for us,” he said.
Mr Mwale, who is also Lumezi District Council Chairperson, assured members of the public that the Local authority will cooperate with the duly elected councillor so that the area receives its fair allocation of development from constituency development funds.
A total number of 2,484 votes were cast out of the 3,524 registered voters while 40 ballots were rejected and declared invalid.
The Kamimba ward seat was declared vacant by the Electoral commission of Zambia (ECZ) on 10th December 2020 after the death councillor Nasauka Banda who died in a road traffic accident in October last year.
