United Party for National Development (UPND) officials in Mkushi district have resolved to petition against the swearing in of the wrong candidate for Nshinso ward local government seat.
Mkushi UPND District Secretary Lishomo Nalishiwa confirmed to ZANIS that his team has petitioned against the swearing in of Patriotic Front’s Xavier Chisenga, who is said to have lost the election to Edward Chuuka of the ruling party.
Mr. Lishomo said the decision to petition against the swearing in of Mr. Chisenga was prompted by a resolution that was arrived at during a Conflict Management Committee (CMC) meeting, where it was established that the UPND candidate had 402 votes whilst the PF candidate had 337 votes.
Meanwhile, Mkushi District Electoral Officer (DEO) Carol Chanda has explained that the mistake might have been caused by clerical error in data entry on the Gen 21 declaration form which serves as the basis for a councilor to be sworn in.
Mrs. Chanda said the electoral team fully admitted that the UPND candidate had won the seat, adding that human error and not conspiracy, led to the swearing in of the wrong candidate.
“It is likely that the officer, who was feeding in the data had transposed the results for the two candidates and that this had happened prior to making the invitations for swearing in ceremony,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mkushi District Conflict Management Committee (CMC) chairperson, Mwiche Zulu, praised the UPND team for opting to settle the dispute via the conflict management forum.
Reverend Zulu said the move should set a precedence for all political parties to be using the CMC for electoral related disputes.
Few days ago, some irate UPND supporters besieged the council chamber to protest against the swearing in of the wrong candidate in Mkushi Constituency’s Nshinso ward.
The volatile situation was quelled by police. – ZANIS
