PF has gained more in L/stone - Munkombwe
PF has gained more in L/stone - MunkombweBy Mwala Kalaluka
Tue 17 July 2012, 14:30 CAT
THE MMD has lost its strength in Livingstone by aligning itself with UPND, says Daniel Munkombwe.
Munkombwe, a veteran politician and former minister in the MMD government, said the PF had gained more from the recent parliamentary and local government by-elections than the opposition UPND and MMD.
He was analysing the outcome of the parliamentary by-elections in Livingstone, Muchinga and Chama North, including several local government polls.
"Definitely whether you like it or not, it is a gain for PF," Munkombwe said. "When you look at Livingstone, it was a stronghold for MMD. MMD decided to create an alliance with the UPND and they decided to put up a candidate. They worked as a team."
He said when one looked at the UPND's winning margin, it was apparent that the PF had made gains in Livingstone Central.
UPND's Rev Howard Sikwela polled 11,979 votes in a by-election marred by apathy, while the PF's Joseph Akafumba polled 8,318.
"The PF was not fighting UPND or MMD alone, it was fighting a pact, an alliance," Munkombwe said. "Imagine there was no pact or no alliance, it is common knowledge that PF was going to win in an MMD/UPND stronghold."
He said the PF won Chama North but that the MMD's victory in Muchinga was a sympathetic vote to late former Republican vice-president George Kunda's son, Howard.
"George Kunda's son got a sympathetic vote. There is no way George Kunda worked extremely well in that constituency. Now, there was no way his son could lose," Munkombwe said. "But the fact is that…the party that has gained more in terms of votes in Livingstone, in terms of winning Chama, in terms of winning local government elections, I think PF has gained whether you like it or not."
PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba on Friday said the party was slowly becoming localised in its non-traditional areas.
He said all the three parliamentary seats that were under contest had been for the MMD.
Kabimba said Livingstone which the PF lost to the UPND was part of the Southern Province Bantustan framework.
"That is their UPND description, not mine. So we have gone up one seat, MMD has gone down by two seats. We have grown, MMD is shrinking.
These results show growth for PF and they show shrinkage by MMD and shrinkage by UPND at local government level," said Kabimba.
But MMD president Nevers Mumba disagreed with Kabimba's analysis that the electoral results reflect major gains for the ruling party and shrinkage for UPND and MMD.
He said the PF should just accept that Zambians were thinking twice over its capacity to deliver instead of behaving like a smart mouse.
"I wouldn't agree with that. That is not what they expected. I think they expected to win all the seats because they are now a ruling party," said Mumba. "They were under the illusion that they were more popular."
Labels: DANIEL MUNKOMBWE, PF, WYNTER KABIMBA
posted by MrK @ 11:02 PM
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