Zambia's 2008 Parliamentary Elections
Zambia Looks to Continue Progress with New President
Nov 13, 2008
The election was held to elect a replacement for Mwanawasa's remaining three years with Rupiah Banda winning the presidency by the narrowest of margins over Michael Sata. Banda, leader of the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD), had been acting president as of Mwanawasa's stroke on August 19th, 2008 and was sworn in on the 2nd November, 2008 after winning 40.09% of the vote compared to Sata's 38.13%.
The Late Levy Mwanawasa
Zambia mourned this August at the passing of it's president Levy Mwanawasa who had been in power since January, 2002 and who had monumental support amongst not only Zambian citizens but indeed much of Southern Africa. Mwanawasa was instrumental over the past decade in guiding the Zambian economy and nation towards a better future and openly criticized the corruption present in many major African Governments, including his own.
2008 Parliamentary Elections
The 2008 Zambian parliamentary elections were held to determine who would succeed Levy Mwanawasa as the president of Zambia. Acting president Rupiah Banda (vice-president under the Mwanawasa campaign) and opposition leader Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front (PF) would be the leading candidates whilst Hakainde Hichilema stood for the United Party for National Development (UPND) and Godfrey Miyanda stood for the Heritage Party. A plularity voting system would be used to decide who would stand as president for the remainder of Mwanawasa's term, rather than the full five-year term which is usually instated.
The former vice-president Rupiah Banda eventually won the vote by the closest of margins. He recieved 40.09% of the vote whilst leading contender Michael Sata was barely behind at 38.13%, a difference of just 35 209 votes. The election was overseen by election observers from the European Union, the African Union and the South African Development Community.
Irregularities in Voting and Accusations of Rigging
Accusations of rigging seem to be a common theme amongst elections in Southern Africa and this was to be no exception. The ballots opened at 6.00 a.m. on the 30th October and Michael Sata cast his vote shortly after, stating that he simply would not accept a Banda victory and it was not possible for MMD to win. Once Banda overtook Sata in the polls after Sata had led for almost the entire day there was mass rioting in the cities of Lusaka and Kitwe as Sata supporters protested.
Sata publicly denied that he had lost the election on South African radio on November 4th, and went on to say the following: "Rupiah Banda has no vision, Rupiah Banda has no platform. The only platform Rupiah Banda is on is cheating".
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