Politics
High security for Zambia Presidential Elections
Zambia’s President Rupiah Banda (pictured), on Monday made a stern call for peace the day before voters go to the polls in an election that will again see him face off against fiery rival Michael Sata.
The last contest between the two leaders, a 2008 race to fill the remainder of late president Levy Mwanawasa‘s term, was followed by days of rioting by Sata’s supporters after he lost to Banda by two percentage points.
Banda said any acts of violence or intimidation around Tuesday’s vote will be met with arrest and prosecution.
“To those who may be contemplating any illegal acts or intimidation or, even worse, physical violence, I have this message for you: I have ordered the police to arrest and prosecute all those who will offend,” he said in a special address broadcast on national television.
National police inspector general Francis Kabonde told journalists Monday that as a security precaution he had ordered his officers to arrest anyone found in public with a slingshot, axe or other potential weapon.
Sata has alleged the 2008 election was rigged, and at the weekend accused Banda and his party, the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD), of plotting to steal Tuesday’s vote.
The opposition leader reacted indignantly on Monday to Banda’s call for peace.
“We are not violent, it is MMD who are violent,” he told AFP.
In an interview published Monday in the state-owned Zambia Daily Mail, Banda dismissed the opposition Patriotic Front (PF) leader’s vote-rigging allegations.
“It is incumbent on those making these allegations to prove to the monitors how the elections will be rigged,” he said.
Electoral Commission of Zambia spokesman Chris Akufuna said there was no way the vote could be stolen.
“What the commission has put in place is really a transparent system where there will not be any space or chance for anyone to manipulate,” he told journalists.
“The representatives of these political parties will be there, and they will be able to see what is happening on the ground.”
Akufuna said election authorities plan to release the official results within 48 hours of the close of polls at 6:00 pm (12:00 pm EST) Tuesday.
Banda has campaigned on a platform of economic growth and infrastructure development, after presiding over an economy that expanded 7.6 percent last year and 6.4 percent the year before, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), one of the fastest rates in Africa.
The growth spurt has been driven by rising international copper prices and a rush of Chinese investment in Zambian copper mines. The country is the biggest producer in Africa and the seventh biggest in the world.
Banda and the MMD claim credit for the boom and the public works construction spree it has helped fund.
“From the MMD you get more growth, more investment and more jobs for our youth,” he told supporters at his final campaign rally at the weekend.
But Banda has been accused of failing to spread the wealth, with 64 percent of the country’s 12.9 million people still living on less than two dollars a day.
Under Banda, the country abolished a 25 percent tax on windfall profits in the mining sector, pleasing investors but sacrificing hundreds of millions of dollars in state revenue.
Sata, who is making his fourth bid for president, wants to re-institute the tax.
Copyright © 2011 AFP.