Patson Chilemba
Lupososhi PF parliamentary candidate Emmanuel Mpankata says 2021 is the toughest election the ruling party has faced since coming to power, but he is confident of winning.
And Mpankata said the tough economic situation the country was going through should not be blamed on President Edgar Lungu, because problems like the Covid-19 pandemic were affecting the whole world, but that did not mean that the ruling party would not take responsibility of the situation.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Mpankata was asked if he felt this was the toughest election the ruling party has ever been involved in since coming to power 10 years ago. Responding, Mpankata, the ruling party’s first elected member of parliament back in 2001, said: “That is not in doubt. This is not child’s play. That is shy we are working round the clock to ensure that we win, and we are winning.”
Mpankata also mentioned some ruling party strongholds where he felt the ruling party needed to put in an extra shift and some of the opposition areas he thought would be brought into the ruling party column during this election.
He mentioned Lubansenshi, in Northern Province which is also being vied for by PF’s Taulo Chewe, UPND deputy secretary general Patrick Mucheleka and Democratic Party’s Chongo Kamfwa, among others “as one area we are struggling in but have mended” in the recent past.
Mpankata said the ruling party was also confident of winning in Ikelengi ( North Western Province), Senanga (Western Province), Livingstone and Mazabuka (Southern Province), all of them traditional opposition strongholds during previous elections.
“Mazabuka with a lot more effort we are getting it,” Mpankata said.
Mpankata said he had noted some opinion polls, some predicting a PF victory and the other predicting an opposition UPND victory, but that for obvious political reasons he would go with the ones predicting victory for the PF, but that ultimately the people will decide on August 12, 2021.
He said the ruling party was working hard to achieve an outright victory to avoid a runoff, saying there many opposition parties contesting in order to force a runoff.
Mpankata also said President Lungu and the PF were not to blame for the tough times, saying economies were struggling everywhere, but that some of the measures put in place by the government were beginning to bear fruit including the appreciation of the Kwacha against the other major convertible currencies.
