Confusion rocks DPP Chiradzulu East primaries

There was confusion on the outcome of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chiradzulu East primaries held yesterday where the party declared incumbent legislator Henry Mussa as the winner.

Presiding officer Symon Vuwa Kaunda declared Mussa the winner, saying the member of Parliament, who is also Minister of Information and Communications Technology, had amassed 3 650 votes against his challenger Joseph Nomale’s 1 600 votes.

But Nomale yesterday claimed he was the winner, saying Mussa had left Nkhwayi Primary School, the venue of the polls, after noticing that he had a small number of supporters behind him.

Primary elections in the country follow the open voting system whereby supporters line up behind their preferred candidate and a head-count is done to determine the winner.

Nomale said unlike Mussa, he had over three queues of people behind him, a development that did not go down well with Mussa who then decided to leave the venue before the head-count was done.

He said the unofficial results showed that he had won the primaries but he was yet to see the official results by the time we went to press yesterday.
“There are no official results. We are yet to get them later. But the fact is that he [Mussa] left the venue after noticing there were few people behind him. So we all know the rules of the game. But unofficially, the results do not favour him,” he said.

However, in a separate interview, Vuwa Kaunda laughed off Nomale’s sentiments and said Mussa left the venue after the declaration that he had won was made.

He said Mussa had to leave the venue early to avoid clashes with his rivals.
“This is not mere word of mouth. Losers can say anything they want. Amwene, munthu angathawe pa ground? [Can someone abscond just like that?]. The other camp is just bitter, there is evidence that Mussa has won. Why would we lie about the results?
“So, that is his version [Nomale], but as for me the presiding officer, the results are that Mussa has won,” he said.

Kaunda further said the results had been submitted to the DPP secretariat which would compile all results from various other constituencies where the primaries have been held for their official records.

According to Kaunda, other presiding officers present included DPP national youth director Daiton Mussa and Northern Region youth director Kelvin Chirambo.

When asked to comment on the outcome of the elections, DPP director of elections Ben Phiri feigned ignorance, saying he was yet to be briefed on the elections by presiding officers.

Efforts to talk to Mussa proved futile as his phone went unanswered on several attempts.
At press time, results of other primary elections in DPP could not be ascertained.