Kapiri by election apathy

Voting in the Kapiri Mposhi Parliamentary by election has started at a slow note.

 

A check by ZANIS at selected polling stations within the constituency showed only a small number of voters had cast their votes by 09:00 Hours as voters were trickling into the polling stations one-by-one.

 

No queues were formed at the selected visited polling stations by press time although most stations opened at exactly 06:00 hours.

 

The voter turnout at TAZARA Polling Station as at 07:00 hours was only 72 out of 3,634 registered voters.

 

TAZARA Polling Station presiding officer, Prisca Musonda, explained that even though the station opened on time few people had cast their votes.

 

At Old Civic Center Polling Station, 88 people had voted by 07:20 hours out of 3,547 registered voters while 128 electorates had voted at Matiliyo Polling Station around 09:00 hours out of a total number of 2,708 registered voters at the station.

 

Meanwhile, 54 people had voted at Palamedes Polling Station out of 1,720 registered voters around 09:30 hours.

 

Palamedes Polling Station Presiding Officer, Eunicade Mwelwa, said the station opened at 06:11 hours.

 

Kapiri Mposhi has a total of 84,368 registered voters with 140 voting streams doted across the constituency.

 

The Kapiri Mposhi constituency by-election was necessitated by the Supreme Court’s nullification of the election of Lawrence Zimba, the then MMD Member of Parliament, following a successful appeal by PF losing candidate, Eddie Musonda.

 

Mr Zimba has been adopted by the opposition UPND to re-contest the seat while the ruling PF and UNIP have fielded Eddie Musonda and Francis Mwape respectively.