Aspirants who lost Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) primary elections in Chitipa East and Central constituencies yesterday have said they will stand on independent tickets.
Kafunja Msukwa who lost to Member of Parliament for Chitipa Central Chizamsoka Mwalwafu by 192 to 232 votes has broken away from the party with all his 192 constituents announcing he will now go for independent ticket.
According to Msukwa, the voting process which took place yesterday was marred by several irregularities.
“Some of the voters who took part during the elections were not eligible ones. Those who were supposed to vote did not show up due to heavy rains, thus my counterpart (Chizamsoka) had to ferry those ineligible ones to the voting places giving them beer and some cash,” alleged Msukwa.
In Chitipa Central Constituency, Ireen Chizumila, who lost to Members of Parliament for Chitipa East Clement Fukumele Mukumbwa, has also rejected the results by saying she will not work with Mukumbwa but will still remain in the party.
“People who came to vote for my counterpart had beer bought for them and came drunk chasing those who came to vote for me. We (aspirants) contributed some money for food but my supporters were chased away too. I cannot work with such kind of people,” said Chizumila.
Speaking on the issue, the party’s regional governor for the North Kenneth Sanga advised the losing aspirants to officially lodge their grievances to the party’s politburo other than breaking away.
