United Party for National Development (UPND) candidate for Ikelenge constituency, Elijah Muchima, has won the race to Parliament in Ikelengi district with a landslide vote beating five other contenders.
Mr. Muchima swept to victory with 11,614 votes followed by his closest rival Peter Fisher of the Patriotic Front (PF) who managed 2,467.
Mr. Muchima becomes the longest serving lawmaker in the area thrashing John Kalenga’s record of the United National Independence Party (UNIP) who served as Ikelenge area MP from 1978-1992.
Ikelenge district Returning Officer, Musonda Kolosa announced Mr. Muchima as duly elected Member of Parliament for Ikelenge constituency on Friday, August 13, at 20:30hours.
In a phone interview Mr. Muchima praised the UPND functionary in the district for working as a team to ensure that he is re-elected and that the party reclaims all the 10 wards including the council chairmanship in the area.
“I thank the people of Ikelenge for the confidence they have shown in me and the party, we will ensure that we work for the development of the district without discrimination as there is no looser or winner in this election,” he said.
ZANIS reports that Mr. Muchima has since called on all elected officials under the UPND ticket to remain humble and ensure that they deliver development to Ikelenge.
“We must remain humble and committed to delivering according to the expectations of the grassroots for the confidence they have shown in our party at all election types from local government to council chairmanship, national assembly and presidential ,” he said.
He commended Nchila proprietor Peter Fisher of the PF and all the candidates that took part in the race and called for unity for the sake of development.
Others in the race for Ikelenge constituency were Eira Patching of the New Heritage Party, Precious Samalesu of the Socialist Party, Geoffrey Chikaba of the Democratic Party and an independent, former Ikelenge district commissioner Victor Kayekesi.
ZANIS reports that Ikelenge district has a population of about 45,000 people with 18,441 registered voters.
