Voting Underway in Kasama Mayoral By-Election

Voting is now underway in the Kasama mayoral by-election, with polling stations across the district opening their doors to voters this morning.

A check at Kasama Boys and Kasama Primary Schools found a small number of people queuing as the polling stations opened, with more voters arriving to cast their ballots throughout the morning.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has successfully deployed polling staff to nearly all stations, though two hard-to-reach polling stations in Kasama Central Constituency experienced delays due to adverse weather conditions affecting access.

ECZ Commissioner Major General Vincent Mukanda confirmed that polling staff for the two affected stations were deployed early this morning, with those stations receiving extended voting time to compensate for the delayed opening beyond the standard 06:00 hours start time.

"The rest of the polling staff and police officers were deployed yesterday to their respective polling stations, including five located in hard-to-reach areas," General Mukanda told journalists in Kasama.

The by-election features six candidates representing different political parties vying to lead Zambia's third-largest city:

• Mary Bukisa - New Focus Party (NFP)

• Mukuka Kapambwe - United Prosperous and Peaceful Zambia (UPPZ)

• Joseph Mubanga - Socialist Party (SP)

• Bywell Simposya - United Party for National Development (UPND), the ruling party

• Peter C. Yuda - Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD)

• Aaron Zimba - Citizens First (CF)

The campaign period leading up to today's vote has been largely peaceful, with General Mukanda noting that only two incidents were reported to the Commission's complaints committee throughout the campaign.

Polling is expected to continue throughout the day, with results anticipated in the coming days once counting is completed across all stations.