It's about four days now since the ruling Patriotic Front woke up to a rude shock of the outcome of four by-elections with three of them going the opposition way. The ruling party is yet to recover. Wynter Kabimba, the Secretary General for PF, was so confident that he went on to announce that at the end of that day, all four seats were headed PF's way. Unfortunately for him, it was never to be. Only Ingrid Mpande made it to Kabimba's list but the rest fell on the side.

Two of those elections - Solwezi East and Kafulafuta - were induced by the Patriotic Front forcing the incumbents who were MMD members to quit prompting a costly by-election. At the last count of the by-election votes the ruling Patriotic Front had only claimed one out of the four parliamentary seats on the menu.

The four by-elections in Solwezi East, Kafulafuta, Chipata Central and Mkushi North actually provided a litmus test of how the Zambians perceive their government. To signal the significance of the by-elections, Republican President Michael Sata who rarely makes public appearances except when he is swearing people at State House or creating new districts or provinces traversed the four constituencies spreading his votes for development agenda.

And the opposition in the diversity also gave the campaigns their shots with the MMD and UPND entering into a loose arrangement that saw them leave out two seats for each other. In the three that they never stood against each other they won.

MMD was given the right to contest Chipata Central where they enjoyed the benefit of incumbency while Solwezi East was left for UPND with somehow MMD's missing out on Kafulafuta after their candidate Evelyn Mwanawasa suspiciously withdrew leaving the UPND to contest.

In Mkushi North where they contested against each other, the ruling Patriotic Front emerged winner accounting for the only ruling party success in elections in the four constituency by-elections.

While the PF picked some lessons, it was the lesson for the opposition that was very clear in this hostile environment: one for all and all for one is definitely the way to go. With another round of by-elections ahead on September 5 in Petauke, Mkaika, Malambo, Mulobezi and Itezhi Tezhi, the lessons from the just ended by-elections could be vital to stop the PF's desire to dominate parliament through the purchase of opposition MPs who they persuade to defect through dangling ministerial jobs.

In Chipata Central Reuben Mtolo Phiri of the MMD benefited from being given full backing by the UPND to scoop the seat by a margin of 2, 273 over the ruling party's Lameck Mangani who for the second time was beaten by the same opponent. The ruling party had given everything including violence and traditional leader Chief Mpezeni who openly vilified opposition party candidates and campaigned for Mangani. In the end it was Phiri who amassed 8, 186 against Mangani's 5, 913 votes. If the UPND fielded a candidate in Chipata Central, the result could have been close to what happened in Livinstone when Lawrence Evans scooped the seat - a slender win for the ruling party.

The UPND, who were given leeway by the MMD in Solwezi East, recorded victory through Villie Lombanya who polled 3, 127 against the PF's Peter Ilunga who had 1,474. UPND scored a first on the Copperbelt where their candidate Brian Chitafu came out winner giving his party the first ever seat in the province. MMD's Evelyn Mwanawasa had pulled out on what the public was told was on medical grounds. This was another clear test for the opposition.

In the end is clear that the strength of the opposition lies in unity. Take for instance the time and concentration that the MMD put in retaining the Chipate Central seat. MMD president Nevers Mumba and a cluster of MPs camped in Chipata where they laid the ground that even the the notorious Judge Ngoma induced violence could not sway the electorates.

While the UPND had their energies largely concentrated on Solwezi East where the battle looked fiercer and also Kafulafuta which was within touching distance, it could have been difficult to achieve victory if the efforts were spread across four areas. It is even cheaper for any given party to assign resources to areas they are likely to win and concentrate human resources in especially dealing with a ruling party such as the PF.

The levels of vigilance in terms of looking out for fraud are trippled when the officials are in fewer areas. It was easy for the electorates to narrow their options as they were not confused by a huge number of political parties. In Chipata for example, while other parties must be commended for taking part in elections, the race was always going to be between the PF and the MMD and for voters you were either for PF or the opposition through MMD.

The electorates were able to look at the opposition with a level of respect given the ability to lay their selfish interests aside to put unity ahead. At least there was no vote splitting. However, the by-election was just but an eye opener to the opposition on how much better they could do with more collaborative efforts.

Next time there will be no element of surprise as the PF will be better prepared and certainly not leave anything to chance. The PF will triple its efforts in pursuit of victory especially as they hope to realise their 106 member threshold in parliament.

So the opposition will have to be more alert and selfless. MMD remains strong in Eastern Province where three by-elections await although with their members crossing over to UPND it will a very close call to see how the big decisions will be made while UPND is strong in Itezhi Tezhi and Mulobezi where other elections are lined up.

A little more sacrifice on either party will be key in helping the opposition efforts count. Other than the Republican President's comics, the opposition parties can very easily strengthen their credentials by joining hands to march towards victory. For now it is congratulations to the winners but to UPND and MMD the hard work begins now!