Zambia: Voting has ended in presidential election

Voting has ended in a Zambian general election that E.U. observers say was conducted in a as fair and transparent manner, despite scattered incidents of violence in the capital, Lusaka.

Pre-election poll surveys suggested a tight race in the presidential election between the incumbent Rupiah Banda and opposition leader Michael Sata. Initial results are expected Wednesday.

President Banda campaigned on a record of several years of strong economic growth in copper-rich Zambia, which has benefited from a boom in global commodity prices.

Mr. Sata’s Patriotic Front accused President Banda of tolerating corruption and not doing enough to ensure that more Zambians share in the wealth of the country’s copper reserves.

Economic growth has averaged 6.5 percent a year since Banda became president three years ago, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

At the current rate of growth, Zambia’s copper output will double to 1.5 million tons by 2015, according to the government.

Zambia will become the fifth-largest copper-mining country in the world by 2013, according to Sophie Chung, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie unit Brook Hunt in London.