I AM HURT, SAYS LOSING PF CHASEFU ASPIRANT

IAM depressed but I am rejuvenating, says losing Patriotic Front (PF) Chasefu parliamentary candidate Dr. Thomas Mtonga.

In an interview yesterday, Dr. Mtonga said the truth is that having invested so much in his political career, he felt depressed but he is rejuvenating, coming back to acceptance and adaptability.

He said after he and his campaign team reflected on the election results it was difficult for them to understand what could have happened on the voting day.

He said this was because his campaign team was rated among the best in terms of coordination, organisation, and executing their plans.

“To the best of our knowledge the people were with us. Maybe there was change of mind by the electorate the night before the elections or maybe there were other forces that we may not know that could have changed people’s perception on the voting day,” Dr. Mtonga said.

He said even the margin between him and winning independent candidate Misheck Nyambose was just about 2,000 votes, meaning that they were neck to neck.

Dr. Mtonga said information he got was that a named chief where Mr. Nyambose hails from instructed his village headmen to tell their subjects not vote for him but their own and that he got few votes from the wards in question.

On the way forward, Dr. Mtonga said he is still calculating what else he can do and that he will come up with another idea in the next few weeks. He pledged loyalty to the PF saying the former ruling party has made him what he is today.

“I rode on the PF manifesto for me to even stand there. I have principles, I will not change anyhow like that. The PF was in opposition for 10 years and it stood the test of time. “It has reigned over Zambia for 10 years and I don’t think they can fail to reorganize themselves in the next five to 10 years. The fact that they were in opposition and managed to keep themselves intact for 10 years I think they should manage to live on,” he said.