Maravi

Voter apathy characterises Chilanga by-election

Voter apathy characterises Chilanga by-election
By Salim Dawood and Chibaula Silwamba
Mon 25 Oct. 2010, 14:30 CAT

LOW voter turnout today characterised the Chilanga parliamentary by-election. A check at various polling stations revealed that very few people had voted by midday. At Parklands polling station, presiding officer Albert Hamayanda said only about 100 voters out of the registered 403 had cast their ballot between 06:00hours and 11 hours.

A voter, Hebert Songolo said it was unfortunate by-elections were being held so often, consuming a lot of money that could be used to improve the social sectors like water supply and rehabilitation of roads.

At Munda Wanga polling station stream one and four, presiding officers Sitali Muwela and Peggy Phiri respectively bemoaned the poor turnout.

Electoral officers in various polling stations had to wait for several minutes, and in some cases as much as an hour, before attending to voters that were getting to polling stations in small numbers.

Although some presiding officers could not give the exact number of people that had voted by the time of the visits, police officers manning the polling stations confirmed that the voter turnout had been low compared to past elections. The number of voters was expected to increase later on in the day.

And no major incidents were recorded in the various polling stations except at Kalundu Basic in Lusaka West where police officers averted a near fracas involving ruling MMD and the opposition UPND cadres.

A police officer told The Post that a group of MMD cadres in Kalundu compound near Kalundu Basic School went round threatening UPND cadres that they would be beaten if their candidate, Captain Cosmas Moono, won the election.

“And in turn the UPND cadres started making phone calls and organizing buses to ferry more of their cadres so they could come and help their friends, but we warned them that we would deal with them if they continued. We sent them away and ordered them to do whatever they were doing very far from the polling station and we are also sending away voters just as soon as they vote,” said the police officer.

Meanwhile, some voters talked to said they felt like they were wasting their time voting in the election because the people they had voted for in the past had not brought any real development in the area.

“I don’t know who am voting for but it’s definitely not the MMD they caused this by-election by their intolerance so if I vote for their candidate we could have another by-election once he has a little difference with his president,” said one voter who was just arriving to vote at Kalundu Basic School.

Four candidates namely Keith Mukata of the MMD, Captain Mono of the UPND, Henry Silumesi of UNIP and Valarie Bwalya of the New Restoration Party (NAREP) are contesting the by-election.

The Chilanga seat fell vacant after the MMD expelled Ng’andu Magande and his Kafulafuta counterpart George Mpombo accusing them of indiscipline and disregarding party regulations.

But Mpombo has since contested his expulsion in the courts of law.

Labels: ALBERT HAMAYANDA, BY-ELECTIONS

posted by MrK @ 10:28 PM