UPND fooling self on Lumezi, says ZRP
By Thandizo Banda
IT IS self-deception of the most shameful form for President Hakainde Hichilema and the United Party for National Development (UPND) to celebrate a fraudulent victory in last week’s Lumezi parliamentary by-election, the Zambia Republican Party (ZRP) has said.
ZRP president Wright Musoma said there was nothing for Hichilema and UPND to celebrate about Lumezi because the ruling party was helped by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to steal the votes as it had been doing with the other by-elections.
“As ZRP, we want to tell the UPND that it’s such a shame that you can be celebrating stolen victory in Lumezi. The UPND know very well that they have stolen the Lumezi votes with the help of the compromised Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ),” Musoma said.
“Zambians know that the UPND candidate should have been disqualified by the anomalies that occurred on the ballot. But in a rush of the night they printed the ballot papers, and as if that was not enough, those reprinted ballots were not inspected by other participants including ourselves as Tonse Alliance members.”
Musoma said Zambians might also recall that the Tonse Alliance had called for the deferment of the by-election because it was mourning its late chairman, former president Edgar Lungu.
“But ECZ refused. So how can they even celebrate when as Tonse, we were not given enough room to fully campaign and compete favourably?
So, this is stolen victory and no wonder HH [Hakainde Hichilema] and ECZ can’t be trusted going into next year’s general elections,” Musoma said.
UPND’s Lufeyo Ngoma emerged winner in an election frowned upon as a sham by the opposition and some civil society blocs.
