HH takes positives from defeat

UPND Leader Hakainde Hichilema says the party is on course for 2016 going by the numbers in the just ended by-elections despite suffering defeat.

The ruling Patriotic Front has scooped the Malambo, Petauke Central and Mulobezi parliamentary seats in yesterday’s by-elections.

Mr Hichilema in a statement says his party is making serious inroads in places where it was virtually unknown a few years ago, adding that the party has sustained the trajectory since the January 2015 presidential elections.

He says the UPND has performed well in places considered not its strongholds, citing Malambo where the party has increased its votes from 704 votes in 2011 to 2,582 and in Petauke from a paltry 515 votes in 2011 to over 2,331 votes in 2015 barely four years later.

Mr Hichilema notes that this no mean achievement, and has thanked the people of Malambo and Petauke for the overwhelming support given to his party.

He has also thanked the people of Mulobezi for braving the intimidation and gave his party 3,311 votes, only to miss it by a paltry 24 votes.

Mr Hichilema points out that the MMD were winning by-elections six months before they lost the election in 2011,and that the by-election, other than being costly to the citizens do not mean much other than that they are a constitutional requirement.

And Mr Hichilema has warned that the escalating electoral violence will reach levels that will not be managed if not curtailed.

He says when people use live ammunition to deal with political opponents, and the Police, who do not have jurisdiction, say it is self-defense, they are telling people that it is acceptable to shoot at unarmed citizens.

Mr Hichilema has since called on President Edgar Lungu to address this situation immediately.