By ADRIAN MWANZA
AN independent analysis and survey conducted by RHOMA Foreign Relations Institute between May 1 to July 31 2021, says there is sufficient evidence to support recent opinion polls that suggest or forecast that President Edgar Lungu will take the day with a marginal gap.
RHOMA Foreign Relations Institute Executive Director Cornelius Bwalya said that the survey, conducted by the Political Science Association of Zambia working with the two international think tanks, London-based Farraline Public Relations and Washington, DC-based Media Theory suggested that President Lungu would receive 44.5 percent of the vote against his main rival, UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema who will receive 30.3 percent.
He said according to the Afrobarometer summary report on Zambia of 2020, it shows that 35 percent of Zambians trusted President Lungu as President of Zambia while 28.4 percent had faith in the PF against 17.5 percent of those that trusted the opposition political parties.
Mr Bwalya said consequently, another survey by the consortium of Zambian Thought Leaders from various academic institutions across Zambia and abroad indicated that President Lungu would also take the day come August 12 without even a re-run.
“Our analysis and facts point to President Edgar Lungu’s PF robust infrastructure development agenda that has seen Zambia securing critical and prominent infrastructure for national development.
“To be precise, the infrastructure in health, education and road sectors has brought about a lot of appreciation among many Zambians that are able to easily access certain services and areas that only five years ago were merely a dream,” he said.
He said what further consolidated President Lungu’s victory prediction was the electoral violence, political intolerance and tribalism exhibited by Mr Hichilema across the country in separate and sporadic instances of their members being caught on the wrong side of the law much to the defence of their party hierarchy.
“For instance, the attack and eventual killing of two PF cadres at an election campaign centre in Kanyama Compound by suspected UPND cadres appeared to have been sanctioned by the UPND leadership judging by the opposition party leader’s tweet where he vehemently suggested that his cadres were merely “revenging and defending themselves,” he said.
Mr Bwalya said this sadist and hateful behaviour and attitude from the President of the UPND continued to advantage President Lungu and the PF going into this election and is perceived by majority of Zambians as a unifier, peace loving, humble and Christian leader.
He said the government premised their development agenda on infrastructure development as a sure way to spur economic development and this has and will continue to stir national development in more unprecedented ways than can be imagined.
Mr Bwalya said according to their investigations, randomly sampled across ethnic groups and in rural and urban areas, the majority were very sceptical of the UPND leader who at no point had ever come out to deny accusations levelled against him as a member of a satanic cult.
