Zambia has shown common sense with their election:
Zambia Re-Elects President Mwanawasa With 43% of Vote 2006-10-02 08:03 (New York)
By Kennedy Mambwe
Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa won
re-election with 43 percent of votes cast, according to
preliminary results, on pledges to continue policies that have
attracted foreign investors to Africa's biggest copper producer.
He beat rivals Michael Sata, 68, and Hakainde Hichilema, 44,
who each received 27 percent of votes, Ireen Mambilima, chairwoman
of the Electoral Commission of Zambia said today in the capital,
Lusaka. The commission has announced results from 135 of the
country's 150 constituencies.
Mwanawasa, 58, has presided over economic growth in excess of
5 percent, the lowest inflation rate in 30 years and the
cancellation of much of the southern African nation's foreign
debt. Initial results had indicated a victory for Sata's Patriotic
Front, which promised to limit foreign investment and give
Zambians a greater share of the country's wealth.
``Let us remain calm as the process continues,'' Agence
France-Press quoted Sata as saying after his supporters staged
violent demonstrations across Lusaka in protest at the results.
``They should not pick up stones, they should not pick up''
machetes.
Investor concern Sata might win the election had led the
Zambian kwacha to weaken to an 11-month low of 4,425 against the
dollar on Sept. 14 from 3,020 on May 11. The kwacha was Africa's
best-performing currency last year.
Results Delayed
The final results of the election were delayed yesterday
after clashes between police and Sata's supporters, who set fire
to shops, vehicles and a police station. At least 19 demonstrators
were arrested.
Mwanawasa, in his first comments on the elections, appealed
for calm and called on the nation to ``condemn all acts of
lawlessness being perpetrated by some parties,'' Agence France-
Presse reported yesterday, citing addresses by the president on
state-owned radio and television.
Mwanawasa's policies have included tax breaks for mining
companies. He also boosted the tourism industry by setting up a
fund to encourage local investment, reduced corruption and
increased agricultural output by supplying more seed and
fertilizer to farmers.
Surging copper prices have attracted investment in Zambia's
mining industry. During the past three years, copper miners
invested as much as $1.5 billion, Mines Minister Kalombo Mwansa
said on June 14.
Mining companies operating in the country include London-
based Vedanta Resources Plc, owner of Konkola Copper Mines Plc,
Africa's biggest copper producer, Vancouver-based First Quantum
Minerals Ltd. and Baar, Switzerland-based Glencore International
AG. Equinox Minerals Ltd., based in Perth, Australia, is digging
Africa's biggest copper mine in Zambia at cost of $415 million.
Support for Sata has risen from the 3.35 percent he won in
elections in December, 2001, on growing discontent about the
country's 50 percent unemployment rate, the fact that more than
two-thirds of Zambians live below the poverty line and criticism
of Chinese mine owners.
The final results of the election are expected to be released
at 6 p.m. today in Lusaka.
--Editor: Sanders |
