By NCHIMUNYA MIYOBA
The ruling Patriotic Front (PF) has retained the Lubwa ward seat in the just ended by-election.
PF candidate Juilus Kaunda polled 1215 beating two other contenders from the United Party for National Development (UPND) Brian Mwewa and National Democratic Congress Party (NDC) Jonathan Banda
UPND got 510 votes while NDC’S candidate had paltry 213 votes.
Lubwa ward returning Officer Brian Mbula declared Julius Kaunda as duly elected at around 23:04 hours last night.
Announcing the winner Mr Mbula said 23 votes were rejected as invalid votes out of the 1, 961 votes cast representing a 26.2 percent.
Lubwa ward by-election was characterised by voter apathy as seen by the number of votes cast against the 7490 registered voters.
And the newly elected Lubwa ward Councillor Juilus Kaunda said his first priority will be to continue with the programmes that have been laid down by the Area Member of Parliament among other things.
“Prior to the election, I was approached by UPND and NDC to stand as their candidate. I had to weigh my chances and went for the PF as they have an MP who is hard working. Winning this seat is be a game changer for the party under the leadership of Joseph Malanji,” he said.
Meanwhile Mr Malanji said political parties that participated in the just ended by election knew that leadership was not lacking in the constituency.
Mr Malanji who was also campaign manager said the results speak volumes as the party is equal to the task of bringing development to the people in Lubwa ward.
Speaking earlier PF Provincial Chairperson Nathan Chanda thanked the residents of Lubwa ward and the campaign team headed by area MP for awarding the ruling party with a win.
Mr Chanda said the party is still popular in the province as can be seen by the victory.
