🇿🇲 BREAKING | UPND Gets 6 Seats Unopposed as Opposition Presence Shrinks Across Southern Belt
The ruling United Party for National Development is tightening its grip across parts of Southern Province and surrounding strongholds, with at least six parliamentary candidates now effectively heading into the August elections unopposed.
The latest development came after independent Monze East parliamentary aspirant Victor Cheelo withdrew from the race and endorsed President Hakainde Hichilema and former Cabinet Minister Jack Mwiimbu, leaving Mwiimbu without a challenger in Monze East.
Others already running unopposed include Trevor Mwiinde in Choma South, Edgar Siakachoma in Kalomo South, Vumango Musumali in Zambezi West, Clement Andeleki in Kazungula North, and Siakole Nchimunya in Sinazongwe.
The picture emerging from the Southern belt is politically significant. What was once considered a UPND stronghold is increasingly becoming territory with minimal opposition resistance. In constituency after constituency, opposition parties are either failing to sponsor candidates or struggling to sustain competitive structures capable of remaining on the ballot.
And the pattern may be spreading beyond parliamentary races.
Preliminary information emerging from several local authorities suggests that close to ten ward seats may also have gone unopposed, although official confirmation is still expected as the Electoral Commission of Zambia continues validating nominations across the country.
This is where the electoral implications deepen.
Parliamentary and local government contests are not isolated races. They form the organisational backbone of presidential campaigns. Candidates mobilise voters, protect polling operations, finance local campaigns, and maintain party visibility at community level. Where opposition structures disappear, the ruling party gains territorial advantage long before polling day arrives.
The contrast is becoming sharper by the day.
While opposition alliances continue projecting unity at national level, the UPND is consolidating physically on the ground in regions that already produce overwhelming margins for President Hichilema.
The governing party is not merely defending its strongholds. In parts of the Southern belt, it is beginning to absorb the electoral space almost uncontested.
And in politics, dominance becomes most powerful when resistance starts disappearing quietly.
© The People’s Brief | Ollus R. Ndomu