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Monday, 17 August 2026 · Lusaka, Zambia
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Election 2026 Economics

Vincent Mwale Wins Chipangali West as an Independent, Returns to Parliament After Three-Way Contest

Vincent Mwale has won the Chipangali West parliamentary seat as an independent, polling 5,482 votes against NRPUP, UPND and Citizens First rivals, and says stalled CDF projects will resume.

Vincent Mwale, newly elected independent MP for Chipangali West

The former Infrastructure and Housing Minister polled 5,482 votes to beat NRPUP’s Maxson Nkhoma, UPND’s Harrison Phiri and Citizens First’s Zacheus Mbewe, and says stalled Constituency Development Fund projects will now resume.

Vincent Mwale has won the Chipangali West parliamentary seat, standing as an independent candidate in a four-way contest that also drew NRPUP, UPND and Citizens First.

Chipangali West returning officer Anthony Chupa declared the result at around 21:30 hours on Thursday.

The Result

CandidatePartyVotes
Vincent MwaleIndependent5,482
Maxson NkhomaNRPUP3,324
Harrison PhiriUPND2,317
Zacheus MbeweCitizens First248

Mwale’s margin over Nkhoma, the second-placed candidate, stood at 2,158 votes.

A Familiar Face in a New Constituency

Mwale is not new to the seat’s history. He represented Chipangali for three consecutive terms before the constituency was split under delimitation, and he also served as Infrastructure and Housing Minister in the previous administration. His win puts him back in Parliament under the newly delimited Chipangali West boundary.

Speaking after the declaration, Mwale thanked the electorate and said his immediate priority is to restart Constituency Development Fund (CDF) projects that had stalled.

Business and Policy Implications

An MP with prior experience running the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing gives Chipangali West a direct line to road, housing and public works policy in the new Parliament. His pledge to unstick stalled CDF projects also has a local fiscal dimension: CDF allocations fund small contractors, community infrastructure and local procurement, so resuming stalled disbursements has a direct bearing on economic activity within the constituency.

His win as an independent, ahead of the NRPUP, UPND and Citizens First candidates, adds one more data point to the pattern of independent and opposition gains being tallied nationally as Zambia’s results process continues.

Conclusion

Chipangali West’s declaration is one of the results now filtering through as counting resumes nationally. Mwale’s return to Parliament, and specifically his commitment on CDF projects, will be one of several local results worth tracking for their bearing on constituency-level public spending in the months ahead.

Related Coverage

Related: Sunday Chanda Concedes Kanchibiya Seat, Defends His Bill 7 Vote in Farewell Statement


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