Africa Review
Lusaka. Zambia’s incumbent President Edgar Lungu is seeking re-election after serving a year-and-a-half of Michael Sata’s five-year term.
The 59-year-old leader was elected in January 2015 after the death of President Sata in office necessitated a by election. He narrowly won a closely contested election, scoring 48.33 per cent of the vote, beating his main challenger Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND), who garnered 46.67 per cent.
His main rival is back in the race, making the complexion of the contest much less the same, except both were coming in with running mates as required by the new charter.
Will President Lungu repeat the feat? That is the question the Africa Review asked a University of Zambia political science lecturer and analyst, Dr Alex Ng’oma, in Lusaka.
“I would suggest that you take the line of thought that the chances of President Edgar Lungu’s re-election are very high,” said Dr Ng’oma.
President Lungu prefers to describe himself as an ordinary Zambian of humble beginnings.
At the height of a grueling internal power struggle in the governing Patriotic Front party, Mr Lungu showed his resolve to become the party’s candidate to replace the late Sata.
“This is because he has become widely accepted by the majority Zambians, as a leader with a national outlook, a leader of all Zambians, for all Zambians. He said it recently that you can never be president of Zambia if you rely on one tribe or one province for your support,” Dr Ng’oma said.
Before ascending to power, political commentators described Mr Lungu as a low public profile figure and with no proven track record, despite being a founding member of the party.
When the PF first came to power in 2011, he was handed a junior Deputy Minister in the Office of the Vice-President post, responsible for disaster management.
Later, he served as Justice and Defence minister and secretary-general of the governing PF under Sata’s regime.
Mr Lungu cut his political teeth in UPND, but in 2001 he quit to form PF with Sata.
President Lungu was viewed by ordinary citizens as of sober character and rarely threw tantrums in public, a sharp departure from his predecessor Sata’s image.
Whether or not he was ready to face criticism was a moot point after his regime shut down a privately-owned newspaper, The Post, just weeks to the General Election.
The move raised a storm and political commentators claimed Mr Lungu was slowly showing signs of autocracy.
On assuming power, he largely ran with a Cabinet left by Sata and which was dominated by the latter’s tribesmen who rallied behind him during the internal party power struggle.
Main opposition leader Hichilema, a University of Zambia economist graduate, cites the current government’s policy inconsistencies that he says have forced the copper-propelled economy to its ‘knees’. The fall of copper prices on the international market hit the Zambia hard, pushing food prices up and making general living conditions less bearable.
However, President Lungu said Zambia’s economy would rebound as the impact was as a result of global happenings.
Opposition groups have accused President Lungu of using state apparatus such as the police to frustrate their campaign.
Generally, President Lungu’s party was running an expensive campaign, if the prices of the glossy bill boards dotted around the country was anything to go by.
Africa Review is a Nation Media Group initiative to tell untold African stories
About the poll
An estimated 6.6 million people are expected to cast their ballots in the southern African nation tomorrow. General elections will be held to elect the President and National Assembly. The race is expected to be a close race mainly between Mr Lungu of the Patriotic Front and Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development.
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