Zambia Ruling Party Dismisses Media Report Predicting Opposition Victory in August Polls

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, Southern Africa Saturday, April 16th, 2016

Zambia’s ruling Patriotic Front (PF) party has dismissed a political report by the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU), published by the British-based magazine The Economist, predicting that main opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development, (UPND) will win the August 11 presidential election.

In its analysis, the Economic Intelligence Unit said recent defections from the ruling PF party to the UPND, coupled with the endorsement of Hichilema by former vice president Guy Scott, a leading member of the PF, boosts the chances of the opposition leader to defeat incumbent President Edgar Lungu in the August presidential poll.

Frank Bwalya, deputy spokesman for the PF party however said Zambians are solidly behind Lungu and the governing party after rejecting the electoral prediction as not a true reflection of issues on the ground.

He said the PF party is only interested in knowing what the EIU says about Zambia in the run up to the election. Bwalya said the EIU has often wrongly predicted several Zambian elections, which he said undermines the prediction of the opposition leader’s alleged victory in the upcoming vote.

VOA