By SIMON MUNTEMBA
THE survey which revealed that President Edgar Lungu will likely win the August 12 general elections is accurate and unbiased, poll expert Dr Masauso Chirwa has insisted.
On Sunday, the Political Science Association of Zambia, two credible bodies in the United Kingdom (UK) and United States America (USA) predicted that if the elections were held today, President Lungu will likely win by over 44.5 percent followed by UPND’s Hakainde Hichilema with around 30.3 percent of the votes.
The public polling was done to ascertain which candidate would likely win elections and was conducted in Eastern, Luapula, Copperbelt, Southern and Western provinces.
But the UPND Alliance and People’s Alliance for Change claimed that the survey was not credible because one of the organization that took part in the research, the Faraline of UK was dissolved in May 2021.
Dr Chirwa who took part in the survey said all those that were claiming the election opinion polls was fraudulent were just politicking because the survey did not favour them.
“First of all, we are not politicians ourselves. We do professional election opinion polls and it is unfortunate that those who are not favoured by the survey which was accurately done without any biasness are claiming it was not credible.
All their claims are not true, they are just politicking,” Dr Chirwa said.
He insisted that the survey was accurate and according to the respondents they would vote for President Lungu because of his good policies such as preservation of jobs, massive infrastructure development, and early distribution of farming inputs among other things.
Dr Chirwa said respondents also said President Lungu had stabilised the country despite the difficult circumstances such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Chirwa said respondents were also happy with Government revival of industries such as Kawambwa Tea Factory and Mununga Banana Scheme and the holding of provincial expos in Luapula Province.
He added that the respondents were happy with President Lungu’s promotion of family values. He said the association is expected to conclude survey on voter behavior and candidate choice in the remaining five provinces during the first week of August
