President Rupiah Banda has indicated that he will run for re-election in 2011, the state-run Zambia Daily Mail reported on Wednesday.
Banda, 72, assumed the presidency after the death of Levy Mwanawasa in August last year. He was elected in October to complete Mwanawasa’s term, which ends in 2011.
Some members of his party have urged him to stand as the candidate for the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), which will hold a nominating convention in 2010.
”I am not blind to your message that you will support me in 2010 at the convention and my adoption as presidential candidate in 2011. If I am well and healthy and you feel I will merit your adoption, I will be ready to be adopted,” the paper quotes Banda as saying.
Banda had served as Mwanawasas vice-president, but has been viewed with suspicion by some MMD members because he was once a follower of the rival United National Independence Party and never publicly renounced his membership.– Sapa