Only One Winner!

Some of the facts most of us do not want to pay attention to as the country chooses its sixth president replacing the late president Michael sata who died in October of 2014.

There are eleven presidential candidates vying for the presidency, ten of those are male with only one female candidate in the form of Edith nawakwi of the forum of democracy and development.

Of these candidates, the following stand a clear chance of either continuing or taking over from the ruling patriotic front.

The united party for national development is widely expected to perform better than they did during the 2011 general elections where the party came third, they could probably shock bookmakers by scooping the presidency.

During those elections, the upnd whose stronghold emanates from the southern province amassed a national total of 506, 763 votes out of 2, 789, 340 total votes counted in the 2011 elections.

While the movement for multi-party democracy got 987, 866 votes from the same number of the total votes cast.

And the patriotic front, the eventual winner got 1, 170, 966 votes.

Following the foregoing the truth of the matter is for the upnd to turn the tables, the party must beat their previous record in order to stand any chances.

Mind you, the national electoral body is using the same 2011 register which has a total of 5, 167, 154 voters.

If this is anything to go by, the voting pattern is not likely to change shockingly just within three years from the change of government.

A lot has happened in the last three years which could be a plus or minus to the ruling patriotic front government, there are people who still believe that the party can deliver more based on individual observations.

Also the opposition (upnd) will gain some votes in the unlikely places such as the Northern Province based on the endorsement from Geoffrey bwalya mwamba and other individuals coming from the same region.

The harassment of Bashilubemba by the late president sata is something that cannot be underestimated in this presidential race; it could to be advantage of the upnd.

The difference between the ruling patriotic front and the united party for national development from the 2011 polls stood at 664,201 votes and this gap is a tough hurdle to bridge considering that some people may not vote in this election due to various reasons.

The patriotic front is expected to perform badly in the upnd backyard (southern province), the opposition will maintain its grip but they will still meet some small resistance if people are happy with the developmental projects.

In Lusaka province the upnd’s support has grown but still it is a question of whether they gained numbers will cause the patriotic front any damage going into this election.

Another fact that each and every politician pays a blind ear is tribal voting, whether you like or not, it will play a huge role in this election.

The southern, western and north-western and part of central regions will reaffirm their support for hakainde hichilema while the eastern, luapula, northern and muchinga, copperbelt are no doubt going for Edgar Lungu.

The fact is there will only be one victor after the 20^th January election.

My interpretation, I could be right or wrong, you could be wrong on right or we could all be wrong or right on this. Next time!