'Errors and irregularities': Kasenengwa's own returning officer confirms the petitioner's case at the Chipata High Court

Election petitions live or die on the word of the people who ran the poll — and in Chipata, the man who ran Kasenengwa's has sided with the challenger's facts. Returning officer John Daka, 35, confirmed before the Chipata High Court that the August parliamentary election in the constituency was marred by a series of errors and irregularities. He was testifying in the petition brought by the UPND's losing candidate, Levison Ziwa, against the declared winner, the NRPUP's Philemon Twasa.

The detail that will follow this case to its judgment came from the recount the court itself directed. Daka testified that rejected ballot papers were found inside Twasa's sealed envelope — where, by procedure, they should never have been — and that ballot papers marked for other candidates in the race were found there too. Asked by the petitioner's lawyer, Obadiah Munsanje, how such errors occurred, Daka answered with the structure of the system itself: counting is done at polling stations in the presence of electoral stakeholders, and a returning officer is never physically present at the count. The explanation for the envelopes, he said, belongs to the presiding officers.

On the question the defence will care most about, Daka held the line: he denied that the ballot papers could have been tampered with after the fact, telling the court the materials are guarded around the clock by the Zambia Police Service and that the container was opened only for the recount. But he added a piece of testimony that goes to atmosphere rather than arithmetic — that before he could officially announce the constituency's results, he felt threatened when Twasa, in the company of supporters, stormed the totalling centre demanding to know why the declaration was taking so long.

The petition continues, with presiding officers among the witnesses still expected. Its significance already exceeds one Eastern Province seat: Kasenengwa is the second constituency this week — after Kabwata survived its time-bar challenge — where the August election is being reconstructed ballot by ballot in open court, and it lands in the same week that Mbita Chitala's statement put the whole election's integrity back on the national table. The court's finding will answer for Kasenengwa alone. The country will read it as more.

Sources: Lusaka Times, "Kasenengwa Polls Marred With Errors, Irregularities – Daka" (8 Oct 2026); Breeze FM Chipata on the testimony (8 Oct 2026); Lusaka Brief archive on the Kabwata petition and the August petition window (Oct 2026).