In the September 28 elections in which the MMD suffered severe losses in the urban areas of Zambia, the opposition Patriotic Front (PF) and the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) accused the ruling party of electoral malpractices to stay in power.
PF president Michael Sata and his UDA counterpart, Hikainde Hichilema, called for the verification of the rural votes which swept back the MMD into power.
So incensed were PF cadres that some of them ran riot in poor areas of Lusaka and certain parts of the Copperbelt, hitherto an MMD stronghold, to protest loudly their grievances.
The riots forced the swearing-in ceremony to be moved from the traditional venue at the Supreme Court in Lusaka to the Parliament buildings were security is tighter.
Mr. Mwanawasa beat four other presidential candidates to emerge the disputed winner with run-away ballots of 1,177,846 representing 42.98 per cent.
His closest rival Mr. Sata polled 804,748 representing 29.37 percent while Mr. Hichilema came third after polling 693,772, representing 25.32 percent.
Others who contested the elections were Heritage Party president, Brigadier-General Godfrey Miyanda with 42,891 and All People’s Congress Party led by Winright Ngondo who trailed with 20,921 votes representing 0.76 percent.
The PF won 43 parliamentary seats, the ruling MMD got 72, while the UDA got 26, with three independents scooping seats.
But demands for a re-count of the rural votes by the PF and UDA fell on deaf ears as the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) went ahead with its business and four days after the elections, Mr. Mwanawasa was controversially declared winner and was inaugurated on Monday, October 2.
Mr. Sata had taken an early lead in the presidential polls winning by landslides in the Copperbelt, Luapula, Northern and Lusaka provinces. Ironically, with the exception of Lusaka, the three regions gifted Mr. Mwanawasa the presidency in 2001.
The delay in announcing the rural vote unsettled the political players whose fears were justified just when Mr. Mwanawasa started getting run-away votes from remote areas to eventually hand him back the presidency.
In some areas of rural Zambia, voting continued three days after the election date.
Unlike in 2001 when United Party for National Development (UPND) late president Anderson Mazoka asked the Chief Justice to declare him winner mid-way through the counting of ballots, Mr. Sata stayed calm as he led by 55 percent of the votes counted.
He, however, saw danger when the MMD vote from rural areas continued to flood the Electoral Commission Centre in Lusaka.
While his votes remained static, sometimes overtaken by Mr. Hichilema, Mr. Mwanawasa’s votes swelled. Three days after elections, and it was clear Mr. Mwanawasa had won, though Mr. Sata regained the second position. The PF has since indicated they would petition results in 50 parliamentary seats but would not petition the presidential election results because the Supreme Court could take long to dispose of the case – a sign of loss of confidence in the country’s judicial system.
The PF has said it was not satisfied that it lost the just-ended elections as it had irrefutable evidence of political malpractice.
The PF accuses the MMD of having used their agents to buy voters’ cards from PF members. Security chiefs collected voters’ cards from their staff and members of their families in unexplained circumstances.
The PF also accuses officers from the Office of the President, Special Division, were also accused of driving vehicles labelled ECZ.
As if that was not enough, Electoral Commission of Zambia director Danny Kalale was briefly detained at the Lusaka International Airport by alert customs and police officers who suspected foul play as more ballot papers arrived from South Africa 48 hours before voting started.
While international observers such as the African Union and the Southern African Development Community have declared the 2006 elections free and fair, the manner in which the ECZ conducted the polls leaves much to be desired.
Some results ECZ chairperson Ireen Mambilima announced to the nation differed sharply with what returning officers on the ground had.
As a result, some candidates who were earlier announced as having won ended up being declared losers.
President Mwanawasa begins his last term in office with another disputed election. Like in the last elections, he does not command any popularity in Lusaka. What is worse, he has even lost the Copperbelt, his stronghold to the PF.
It also remains to be seen how Mr. Mwanawasa would reconcile with the influential Bemba tribe of the north after appointing only two ministers from there. While Mr. Mwanawasa has rewarded the easterners with the vice presidency and other key ministries for giving him a lot of votes, it is clear the Bembas, who predominantly voted for tribesman Michael Sata, would find the president’s stay in office for another five years repulsive.
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