Candidates Offered Competing Visions of Country's Economic Future
By Shapi Shacinda
Reuters
Friday, September 29, 2006
LUSAKA, Zambia, Sept. 29 -- Zambian officials began tallying ballots early Friday after a huge turnout in close elections fought on a debate over President Levy Mwanawasa's economic policies. International donors had praised his actions, but the opposition denounced them for failing to lift millions out of poverty.
Mwanawasa urged voters to back his record of strict financial discipline and zero tolerance of corruption, policies that have earned Zambia relief from debts and commendation from the International Monetary Fund and other donors.
His populist challenger, Michael Sata, accused the incumbent of "selling out" Zambia to donors and foreign firms, particularly from China, who are interested in the country's huge copper reserves.
Different opinion polls have tipped both Mwanawasa and Sata to win, meaning Thursday's vote could be the closest in the copper-rich country in southern Africa since it won independence from Britain in 1964.
Analysts said the count would be watched closely by voters, who are divided over the competing visions of Zambia's future advanced by the two main candidates. Frequent and at times obvious voter fraud has marred previous elections.
Election officials said the vote this year was nearly flawless, except for a few instances, criticized by Sata's Patriotic Front, in which voters were erroneously omitted from registers.
A third candidate in the presidential election, Hakainde Hichilema of the United Democratic Alliance, is expected to come in third, despite an endorsement by liberation hero and former president Kenneth Kaunda as the "best man to lead Zambia."
After the 2001 election, the opposition petitioned the Supreme Court to nullify Mwanawasa's victory, saying the vote was rigged, but the court dismissed the accusations.
Zambia's electoral commission introduced measures to try to ensure free and fair elections this time round, including satellite technology to transmit poll results and the use of transparent ballot boxes.
It is unclear when the winner will be declared. Under a new electoral law, the media are forbidden to project a winner based on partial results, although most poll watchers expect the final count by Saturday or Sunday.
Mwanawasa, a burly lawyer who made an early mark with an anti-corruption drive targeting former president Frederick Chiluba, has sought to highlight an economic record that, in addition to winning debt relief, has cut poverty and pushed economic growth above 5 percent. He has repeatedly called the election a referendum on Zambia's economic future.
Sata has won support by promising workers a bigger stake in state enterprises, major tax cuts and a 51 percent cap on foreign mine ownership. His rallies have been packed with supporters who say the Mwanawasa team has failed to bring the benefits of Zambia's economic revitalization to the estimated two-thirds of Zambia's 11.5 million people who still live on less than $1 a day.
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