(LUSAKATIMES) UPND gets Chilanga as MMD eyes Mpulungu

UPND gets Chilanga as MMD eyes Mpulungu
Tuesday, October 26, 2010, 4:15

By LusakaTimes

THE opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) has won the Chilanga parliamentary by-election through its candidate Captain Cosmas Moono by a landslide victory.

Captain Moono won the election with 3,702 while the ruling party candidate Keith Mukata amassed 2,339. Former ruling party UNIP’s candidate Henry Silumesi only managed 131 votes while NAREP’s Valarie Bwalya got 50. There were 67 rejected ballot papers and 6289 total votes counted.

Retaining officer Alfred Chipoma made the announcement at around 02:00 hours to vigilant UPND supporters who monitored the entire counting and evaluation process.

Songs of jubilation then characterized the scene as UPND officials repeated the ‘good news’ announcement through a Public Address system.

Captain Moono however, did not show himself to the jubilant UPND supporters for apparent safety reasons.

Over hundred police officers blocked the entrance to the designated tallying center, barring journalists from both private and public media from covering the collection and counting of ballot papers in Chilanga

Meanwhile, over hundred police officers blocked the entrance to the designated tallying center, barring journalists from both private and public media from covering the collection and counting of ballot papers in Chilanga.

The riot officers who were armed with tear gas canisters, shot buttons and guns had a tough time preventing the journalists from entering the premises after it was realized that state owned and government controlled ZNBC TV crew was sneaked into the tallying centre ‘secretly’.

After a near crash with the police officers, the helpless journalists complied and waited for over six hours to get the official announcement of results.

In Mpulungu as at 05:00 hours this morning, the ruling party was in the driving seat with 4, 504 votes from 51 of the 60 polling stations.

The officials update of results saw the Patriotic Front which was enjoying a meager lead since the begging of the counting process slipping to second position, trailing MMD with 4,129.

Final results from Mpulungu coming up shortly…