SOCIALIST PARTY OUTSPENDS UPND ON CAMPAIGN BILLBOARDS WITHIN LUSAKA
Tue June 15, 2021
According to information released by the Transparency International Zambia (TIZ), the Socialist Party have outspent the UPND who are the largest opposition political party on money spent on campaign billboards.
TI-Z data collection revealed that for the month of May 2021 only, the PF had at least 208 billboards, the Socialist party had at least 70, the UPND at least 24 and the Democratic Party at least 4 billboards across the city of Lusaka. Based on this quantity survey and pricing information obtained from advertising agencies for various sizes of billboards, it has been estimated that the PF spent about K2.9 million on billboard advertisement for the month of May only, followed by the Socialist party which spent about K864,000 and UPND spent K648,000.
What has surprised voters is that the fact the UPND have being outspent by a newly formed Socialist Party and many have warned that the Socialist Party will be force to reckon with after the August 12 elections.
With the battle of who is the “real reds” between the Socialist Party and the UPND getting more interesting many took it to Social media to joke that indeed the Socialist Party are indeed the real reds based on their financial muscle.
Meanwhile, TI-Z has promised to continue doing this kind analysis for other major towns in Zambia, as well as for other campaign activities that the different political parties are involved in. In addition to it informing it’s advocacy interventions on the issue of political party financing, TI-Z are convinced that information about how much money political parties are spending on their campaigns is something that will be appreciated by citizens of Zambia.