I WOULDN’T AGREE THAT UPND WOULD WIN AUGUST POLLS BY 98%, SAYS AMOS CHANDA
UPND media team member, Amos Chanda has declared that the August 13 polls are between President Hakainde Hichilema and Brian Mundubile.
Speaking on Prime TV’s Oxygen of Democracy programme, Chanda, who is late President Edgar Lungu’s ex-Press Aide says that, while Zambia’s electoral field remains crowded with numerous political parties contesting this year’s polls, the political optics clearly point to a contest dominated by two major formations.
Drawing from his experience in politics, Chanda notes that although parties such as the Socialist Party and Citizens First remain visible players on the political landscape, any election outcome involving any party away from the four major political groupings would amount to a rewriting of Zambia’s Political Science books.
However, he stresses that the real battle is shaping up between the ruling UPND Alliance and the opposition TONSE Alliance.
“The PF has been the main opposition for the entire five years of the UPND, when it reunites how can it not be a force you must pay attention to,” Chanda remarks.
He cautions against underestimating the union of the TONSE and PF Pamodzi alliances, recalling how many observers dismissed the UPND Alliance ahead of the 2021 elections, only for it to eventually form government.
According to Chanda, the lessons of 2021 should serve as a warning to political strategists who may be tempted to downplay the growing influence of the TONSE Alliance.
Chanda says the coming together of the Brian Mundubile and Makebi Zulu is considered as a revival of the Patriotic Front-PF.
” I wouldn’t sit in a strategic team that would say that there’s no viable opposition whatsoever and that the UPND was going to win by 95 – 98% of the vote, I wouldn’t sit in a strategic team that thinks like that and agree that, that is the case,” Chanda says adding that a realistic assessment of political competitors is critical in any electoral contest.
Landilani Banda
TV Yatu