Zambians turned out in large numbers to vote in the country’s fourth multiparty general elections since Kenneth Kaunda was defeated at the polls in 1991. Long queues formed outside polling stations in the capital, Lusaka, as early as 5am, although polls only opened at 6am. People waited anxiously but patiently to cast their votes for the president, members of Parliament and local government representatives.
”I have been here since 5am, but I can’t go back until I vote because it is my basic right and responsibility to choose the leaders of my own choice,” said Justina Banda, a Lusaka resident and one of the country’s 3,9million registered voters.
President Levy Mwanawasa’s main rival and greatest threat is former cabinet minister Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front, who has promised to slash taxes for the 400 000 civil servants from the current level of 37,5% on their monthly basic salary. Sata has also criticised what he calls ”bogus Chinese and Indian infesters [investors] in Zambia” — remarks that have angered the Chinese community and businesses.
Businessman Hakainde Hichilema of the United Democratic Alliance has consistently come third in the past five opinion polls, which have alternately ranked Sata and Mwanawasa as the most popular candidates.
Other presidential candidates are Godfrey Miyanda of the Heritage Party, a former vice-president in the government of Frederick Chiluba who is seeking to revitalise agriculture, and Ken Ngondo, leader of the All People’s Congress Party and an advocate of social justice and improved living standards.
The presidential candidate with the most votes wins, even if he does not get 50%. Zambia, like most Anglophone countries, uses a simple majority electoral system.
On the eve of the polls, Mwanawasa made a televised address to the nation in which he appealed for calm: ”I appeal for peace among all Zambians as we vote. Let us not allow violence to rear its ugly face in these elections,” he said.
Mwanawasa’s administration has been praised by Western donors for its anti-corruption drive and for improving the country’s economy. However, opposition parties say the government has failed to alleviate poverty in the copper-mining country where about 70% of the population live in abject poverty.
More than 5 000 local and foreign observers from the European Union, the Southern African Development Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa are monitoring the elections in the 150 constituencies across the country.
Analysts say the ballot is the most transparent since the Southern African country emerged from Kaunda’s 27 years of authoritarian, one-party rule in 1991. Kaunda was defeated by Chiluba, the Movement for Multiparty Democracy’s founding president, in a landslide election victory that is credited with reintroducing multiparty politics in the former British colony.
”So far we are very satisfied, because what has been put in place is enough to warrant a free and fair election,” said Abel Thoahlane, chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission of Lesotho and mission leader for the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa. ”There were a number of loopholes that we observed and immediately brought to attention — we are glad they have been rectified in the interest of free and fair elections.”
The election is being held under a new set of electoral laws. Among other innovations, the new law bars the media from declaring a winner before the Electoral Commission of Zambia makes its official announcement. This is to avoid tensions that could erupt after the election.
In the controversial 2001 polls, state television first announced that an opposition leader had won before the commission declared that Mwanawasa had won the presidency with 1% more than his closest rival. The opposition subsequently contested the result in the supreme court, but lost after a prolonged trial.
Transparent ballot boxes are being used for the first time to allay fears of vote rigging and biometric data of voters has been included on the cards to curb cheats. According to commission chair Ireen Mambilima, ”these measures will definitely inspire confidence in our voters to turn up in large numbers knowing that the new system is not prone to manipulation in any way”.
The elected president is expected to be sworn in over the weekend.