Debt-ridden Zambia votes in hotly contested polls

Zambians voted in the general election on Thursday after a tense campaign dominated by economic woes, a debt crisis and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sixteen presidential candidates are vying for the top post, but the favorites are Edgar Lungu, 64, and his longtime nemesis Hakainde Hichilema, a business mogul, who face off for the third time at the polls .

Hichilema, 59, who is running for the sixth time, is supported by an alliance of 10 parties.

Queues of hundreds of people formed before dawn outside polling stations in popular and densely populated areas of Lusaka, before the polling stations opened at 6:00 a.m. (04:00 GMT).

President Lungu was among the first to vote at a kindergarten in Chawama, a poor neighborhood in Lusaka.

About seven million citizens are registered to vote for a president, lawmakers and local government officials. By MARCO LONGARI (AFP)

Cheerful, Lungu told reporters: “We are winning, otherwise I wouldn’t have been in the race if we hadn’t won, we are a winning team.”

But a slowing economy and rising cost of living have eroded his base of support, polls suggest, and the election could be even tighter than the 2016 polls when he narrowly won a victory over Hichilema .

Lungu, a lawyer by training, is accused of having borrowed unsustainably, especially from Chinese creditors, to finance a frenzy of infrastructure projects.

Under him, Zambia became the first African country to default on its sovereign debt since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, while inflation soared to 24.6% in June, the highest rate in more than ‘a decade.

Map of Zambia, which is holding presidential elections on August 12. By (AFP)

Africa’s second-largest copper producer after the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the world’s eighth largest producer, missed another debt repayment this year.

“I am voting for change. We cannot continue on this path,” said Andrew Daka, 20, who was voting for the first time in his life.

“Hope for change”

Just before voting, Ernest Chimba, 35, an unemployed schoolteacher, said he “hoped for a change on the economy … because the cost of living in Zambia has become very high”.

Tensions erupted in the run-up to elections in the southern African country of 17 million people. By Patrick Meinhardt (AFP)

But Lungu says that “things are moving well in the country”, although his critics point to the high cost of living, poverty and unemployment.

Tensions erupted in the run-up to elections in the southern African country of 17 million people.

Supporters of Lungu’s Patriotic Front (PF) and Hichilema’s United Party for National Development (UPND) clashed violently on several occasions, prompting Lungu to deploy the army.

Critics denounced the unprecedented move as a tactic to intimidate opposition voters, which the PF denies.

Queues of hundreds of people formed before dawn outside polling stations in Lusaka. By Patrick Meinhardt (AFP)

The president has also hardened dissent since taking office in 2015, raising fears of cumbersome if the results are challenged.

UPND supporters keep a low profile in the capital Lusaka, a stronghold of Lungu, for fear of being attacked by their PF counterparts.

About seven million citizens are registered to vote for a president, lawmakers and local government officials.

The winning candidate must get more than 50% of the vote to avoid a second round, which analysts consider unlikely. If no one crosses the threshold, a second round will take place in 37 days

Lungu is confident that he has half a million more votes than Hichilema.

Hichilema, 59, who is running for the sixth time, is supported by an alliance of 10 parties. By Patrick Meinhardt (AFP)

Hichilema is basing his hopes on the administration’s disenchantment with Lungu’s economy to win the presidency.

“Zambia is at a crossroads,” Hichilema said Wednesday, pledging to turn the economy around.

The opposition accused the government of seeking to rig the ballot – allegations the PF rejected.

UN chief Antonio Guterres is following the vote “closely” and called on all candidates “to do their part to create an environment conducive to credible, inclusive and peaceful elections,” said his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.

Local and international observers will monitor polling stations, some of which will use a biometric voter identification system for the first time.

Polling stations close at 6:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. GMT) in more than 12,000 polling stations scattered across the vast country. The official results are expected on Sunday.