The ruling United Party For National Development (UPND) has scooped  the Dilika ward by-election in Chipata District, after amassing more than 1,000 votes.

The seat which fell vacant after the resignation of Florence Jere, was contested by five political parties and four independent candidates.

UPND’s Lewis Zulu  emerged winner after polling a total of 1,543 votes followed by an independent candidate  Aaron Zimba who got 764 votes.

Socialist Party candidate Juma Milanzi emerged third after polling 606 votes, while the  Citizens First candidate Lucky Chileshe, was the fourth after getting 556 votes.

The former ruling party, United  National Independence Party (UNIP) candidate Lucky Chileshe came out fifth  with 84 votes.

The other independent candidates namely  Joseph Daka, Agness Phiri and Gift Sakala got 40,25 and 7 respectively.

And Syluvias Kamungu from the Leadership Movement managed to get 37,votes in the tightly contested  by-election, marred by apathy.

Speaking to ZANIS immediately  after being declared winner by returning officer for Dilika ward Reuben Simfukwe,  Mr Zulu  thanked the voters for showing confidence in him.

He promised to represent the  aspirations of the electorate in the council for collective development to take place. 

Mr Zulu also thanked UPND party members for rallying behind him and said he will work to ensure the UPND manifesto was actualized in the ward.

And UPND Eastern Province chairperson Johabie Mtonga said the by-election was an eye opener in terms of planning for future elections. 

He called for unity and peace among the UPND party members in the province.

Mr Mtonga said the party must go back to the drawing board and start planning because the voter turnout during the Dilika by-election was very low.

A total of 3,710 votes were cast while 47 were votes rejected in Dilika ward, which has about 26,664 registered voters.