US, UK experts tip Lungu for victory

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu will likely win the August 12 general elections, Political Science Association of Zambia, two credible bodies in the United Kingdom (UK) and United States America (USA) have predicted.

The Zambian grouping along with the Faraline of UK and Media Theory of USA have released an opinion poll which shows 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.

Poll expert from the UK Professor Richard Elson and Dr Masauso Chirwa of Zambia conducted the poll in Copperbelt, Luapula, Eastern, Southern, and Western provinces.

The public polling was done to ascertain which candidate would likely win elections and was conducted by the research team comprising Dr Chirwa, Principal Investigator, Joe Nabwa and Aaron Siwale.

According to the poll, 44 percent of the respondents stated that they would vote for Mr Lungu because of his good policies such as preservation of jobs, massive infrastructure development, and early distribution of farming inputs among other things.

Presenting the research finding in Lusaka yesterday, 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.

“The project summary concluded that 44.5 percent of Zambians would likely vote for President Edgar Lungu while 30.3 percent would vote for UPND leader, Hakainde Hichilema,” he said.

President Lungu scored highest in Eastern, Luapula and Copperbelt while Mr Hichilema scored highly in Southern and Western provinces.

Dr Chirwa said those that supported Mr. Hichilema stated that he was a visionary leader with a clear development plan and that he had promised to transform the country.

He however said about 15 percent remained undecided for various reasons.