MMD's Kapiri Mposhi Member of Parliament (MP) Lawrence Zimba has been declared as duly elected and his seat declared valid in a judgment that was passed by Ndola High Court Judge Mwiinde Siavwapa yesterday.

And Judge Siavwapa has expressed concern over the abandoning of the petitioner Eddie Musonda by his lawyers Bokani Soko and Lukangaba Sukwana, saying their act was tantamount to gross professional misconduct and negligence of duty to their client.

Delivering judgment in a matter where losing Patriotic Front (PF) candidate Eddie Musonda had petitioned the election of the incumbent MP, Judge Siavwapa said the outcome of the election would not have been different given the huge difference in the number of votes by which the plaintiff lost to the first defendants.

"I accordingly dismiss the petition with costs and find the respondent Mr Zimba to have been elected and I accordingly declare the election for the Kapiri Mposhi Constituency held on September 20, 2011 to be valid," Judge Siavwapa said.

He said in order for him to nullify the election results, he needed to satisfy himself that on the totality of the evidence, the proved malpractices were so serious and wide spread that they even affected the outcome of the election.

He said the allegations of bribery and cash handouts did not in any way influence the voting pattern of the electorate in areas where these allegations were being perpetrated because the evidence adduced in court showed that Mr Zimba got lower votes.

The petitioner polled 9,519 votes coming out second while the MMD MP polled 16,575 votes and the United Party for National Development's (UPND) Robby Chungwa polled 6,654 votes with Bishop Maluti of United National Independent Party (UNIP) polling 884.

Judge Siavwapa said from the foregoing the real competition for votes was between the petitioner, Mr Zimba and the candidate who came third, saying in fact, the figures suggested that if either the petitioner or the candidate who came out third had not stood, Mr Zimba would have lost the election.

He said this was as a result of the fact that the malpractices were not wide spread across the constituency making it not possible to come to a conclusion that the majority of the voters were prevented from the candidate of their choice.

He said this being a parliamentary election petition, he must be satisfied that the proved irregularities prevented the majority of the voters in the constituency from voting for the candidate of their choice.

And Chilanga Member of Parliament Keith Mukata yesterday told the court that PF members allegedly intimidated and harassed MMD officials and sympathisers after the PF won the September 20 elections like it was pay back time.

Mr Mukata who is deputy Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry said when he opened his defence in a petition hearing that several MMD members in his constituency allegedly beat and harassed PF members after it was learnt that the PF had won the presidential elections.

This is in a petition hearing in which PF losing candidate for Chilanga Constituency Geoffrey Chumbwe has asked the Lusaka High Court to nullify Mr Mukata's parliamentarian seat on grounds that he was not duly elected.

But Mr Mukata told High Court Judge Gaudentia Milimo that it was not true that he distributed 55 pockets of cement to co-operatives in his constituency to induce the electorate to vote for him adding that the cement was actually bought by the co-operatives themselves after members contributed money.