BY-ELECTION RESULTS NOT FREE AND FAIR, THE VICTORY WAS STOLEN – GBM
…it took the entire President and State House to ‘steal’
PATRIOTIC Front (PF) presidential aspirant Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba (GBM) says the local government by-election results in yesterday’s polls was not a true reflection of the will of the people.
And Mwamba has warned the UPND and President Hakainde Hichilema not to think that Zambians are happy with their system of governance .
Commenting on the results, Mwamba said induced by-elections and a forced or stolen victory does not reflect the will of the people at all in a democracy.
He said President Hichilema was aware of violence and vote buying that characterised the nomination, campaigns and voting processes, which disadvantaged the opposition political parties to campaign freely and PF inclusive.
“I hear Mr. Hichilema is celebrating what he calls victory. This is a stolen victory, it is a forced victory. This is not a victory he should celebrate now. What shocks me is how fast my brother Hichilema forgets. He was in the opposition and such results or undemocratic tactics were implored against him and that is what he is doing too. Such electoral outcomes in a by-election during that time were also recorded and we saw people celebrating. But what happened during a general election is different from the victory they celebrated then,” he said.
Mwamba warned that employing violence, vote buying tactics and blocking other candidates from participating was undemocratic.
He said the ruling party should know that the PF was still strong and will soon shock the UPND ahead of the 2026 general election.
“Local Government by-elections took the entire State House and the entire resource basket from the treasury for the UPND to force what they call now a victory. Even former Presidents never campaigned in local government by-elections because they trusted part structures, unlike the UPND, were the entire State House, Ministers and Vice President go into a local government by-election distributing food and money in order to win,” he said.
He noted that UPND starts and ends with President Hichilema and without him, the party cannot exist.
Mwamba has since urged PF members and Zambians in general to remain steadfast, strong and promote genuine unity in order to keep values of togetherness.
“President Hichilema is UPND and UPND is President Hichilema. This party starts and ends with him. You can see what happened before he went into the campaigns, Zambians have no trust in the UPND. I therefore, implore our members throughout the country to remain strong and support one another. PF is not dead, we are coming back, we shall bounce back. The results are not as bad as you may think. We agree that the results maybe be painful, but at the same time they should make us strong and stand together to face a brutal, violent and dangerous regime,” he said.
And Mwamba has urged President Hichilema to end violence exhibited by well known UPND cadres.
He said among the many reasons Zambians voted out the PF and parties before them were violence, hunger and lack of jobs among Zambians.
Mwamba warned that the rate at which the UPND is moving is headed towards the exit door.
“UPND has no plan, this party has no focus not even an idea about how to end poverty, hunger and unemployment. UPND is fixing everyone starting from farmers, jobless youths, businesses, political opponents and all,” said Mwamba.