Key takeaways
- UPND’s Imanga Wamunyima Jr has won the Nalolo parliamentary seat with 10,420 votes.
- Independent candidate Mashekwa Namakando finished second with 10,067 votes, a margin of 353 votes.
- The narrow result reflects Nalolo’s status as one of the election’s closely watched contests.
- Wamunyima had campaigned in Nalolo alongside President Hakainde Hichilema in the final stretch of the race.
UPND candidate Imanga Wamunyima Jr has won the Nalolo parliamentary seat, defeating Independent candidate Mashekwa Namakando by a margin of 353 votes in one of the tighter constituency races of Zambia’s 2026 general election.
The result
Wamunyima polled 10,420 votes against Namakando’s 10,067, according to results declared for the Nalolo constituency. The narrow gap places Nalolo among the more closely contested seats of this election cycle, in a constituency where the ruling UPND had invested significant campaign attention in the closing days of the race.
A campaign built on youth and continuity
Wamunyima campaigned in Nalolo alongside President Hichilema, part of a broader UPND push framing him as one of the party’s emerging youth voices. His candidacy had already drawn attention ahead of polling day for what it represented about generational change within the party, and Wamunyima’s win keeps that promise before Nalolo’s electorate rather than leaving it untested.
The scale of his win, just over three hundred votes, suggests the seat remains genuinely competitive rather than settled, a pattern consistent with several rural constituencies in this election where local issues and candidate profile weighed as heavily as party affiliation.
Why it matters
Individual constituency results of this size rarely move national economic indicators on their own, but they matter for what they signal about the shape of the incoming National Assembly. A government with a comfortable majority built from margins like Nalolo’s has less room to assume automatic support on contested legislation, including budget and tax measures, than one built from wider wins. For Western Province specifically, a newly elected, youth profile MP with a direct relationship to the presidency carries practical weight for how constituency development priorities get raised and followed up in Lusaka.
What to watch next
- Whether Namakando’s campaign raises any formal challenge to the result, given the narrow margin.
- How Nalolo’s result fits into the broader constituency tally as the Electoral Commission of Zambia finalises the national count.
- Wamunyima’s first public priorities as MP-elect for the constituency.
Related coverage
- Youths in Politics: Imanga Wamunyima Jr and Nalolo’s Test of a Generational Promise
- Nalolo, This Is Your Suit for Tomorrow: What One of Zambia’s Youth MPs Tells Us About Youth in Politics
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