ZAMBIA: Voters rally in Zambia as tight presidential election race draws nearer

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa faces a tight race for re-election this week, with many poor voters angry over policies which have attracted foreign investment, but have yet to dent widespread poverty. Thousands took to the streets on Tuesday (September 26), to support opposition candidates. Six months ago, Mwanawasa basked in praise after Western donors excused billions of dollars in debt to reward his economic programme -- fighting corruption, attracting foreign investment and tightening controls on government spending. But he has since been stung by a backlash, with political opponents saying he has "sold out" to Chinese and other foreigners hungry for Zambia's huge copper deposits and failed to dent widespread poverty in the nation of 10 million people. His chief challenger in Thursday's race, former cabinet minister Michael Sata, has revelled in the dissatisfaction with Mwanawasa, promising to boost taxes on mines and get tough with Chinese managers accused of exploiting Zambian workers. "The MMD government must go! Zambia has never had war. But the way we live, like a country at war. In Zambia there is no medicine," Sata told a supportive crowd at a rally. A final poll on Monday (September 25) by an independent group predicted a win by Mwanawasa with 43 percent of the vote, overturning a much larger lead by Sata in an earlier survey. Political analysts have cautioned against poll predictions of a big win for Sata, saying it remains difficult to assess voter intentions in Zambia's vast rural areas. A third candidate, businessman Hakainde Hichilema, has polled a distant third but could still end up with a slice of power if the election yields a fragile coalition government, as some political analysts expect. "Let's get the MMD government out. It has completely failed to run this country. Totally failed to run this country. And why should Zambians be poor if their country is so rich?" Hichilema asked his supporters. Mwanawasa, who underwent treatment for a stroke this year, has also been weakened by opposition charges that he is too frail to continue leading the government. But the portly 58-year-old president has dismissed the accusations, saying he is in fine health and able to serve a second five-year term.

ITN Source | September 27, 2006

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