Zambia - 2011 Election
Zambia is a republic governed by a democratically elected president and a unicameral national assembly. In multiparty general elections on September 20 that were considered generally free and fair by international and local observers, leader of the opposition Patriotic Front (PF) Michael Chilufya Sata was elected president. The previous ruling party, the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), had exerted considerable influence through its patronage and allotment of government resources. Security forces reported to civilian authorities.
Serious human rights abuses occurred during the year. The most important were security force attacks on the physical integrity of persons, including unlawful killings, torture, beatings, and abuse; life-threatening prison conditions; and arbitrary arrests and prolonged pretrial detention. Other serious human rights problems included long trial delays; arbitrary interference with privacy; restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association; government corruption; violence and discrimination against women; child abuse; trafficking in persons; discrimination based on sexual orientation and against persons with disabilities; restrictions on labor rights; forced labor; and child labor. The government generally did not take steps to prosecute or punish officials who committed abuses, and impunity remained a problem.
Election commission results showed opposition leader Michael Sata leading incumbent President Rupiah Banda 44 to 36 percent, with results in from slightly more than half of Zambia's voting districts. President Banda campaigned on a record of several years of strong economic growth in copper-rich Zambia, which has benefited from a boom in global commodity prices. Sata's Patriotic Front accused Banda of tolerating corruption and not doing enough to ensure that more Zambians share in the wealth of the country's copper reserves.
Violent protests broke out as the country awaited the final results. Police said demonstrators stoned cars and buildings in the north-central cities of Kitwe and Ndola and set fire to a market in Kitwe. Regional police chief Martin Malama told reporters that police were trying to contain the situation. Ahead of the poll, Sata accused the electoral commission of planning to rig the outcome using pre-marked ballots. The electoral commission denied that allegation.
Michael Sata won the country's presidential election, defeating President Rupiah Banda. Chief Justice Ernest Sakala declared Sata the winner following a tight presidential race. With most of the constituencies counted, Sata had received more than 1 million votes compared to more than 961,000 votes for the incumbent.
Michael Chilufya Sata of the PF was elected president with 41.9 percent of the vote. Former president and MMD candidate Rupiah Banda received 35.4 percent, and Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND) 18.17 per cent. The rest of the votes were shared by seven other contenders who each obtained less than 1 percent. Of the 150 constituency-based parliamentary seats, the PF won 60, the MMD 55, the UPND 28, the Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) one, and the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) one; three candidates were elected as independent members. The three remaining seats were contested on November 28; two went to the PF and one to the UPND. Although the then-ruling MMD campaign was characterized by abuse of public resources and a progovernment public media campaign, several local and international observers concluded that the elections were generally free and credible.
Political parties could operate generally without restriction or outside interference, and individuals could independently run for election. However, many observers believed that the then ruling MMD, in the lead-up to the general elections, exerted considerable influence over the electoral process by using government resources to conduct political campaigns. In the aftermath of the September 20 elections, several MMD officials faced victimization at the hands of the PF government and supporters. For example, on December 21, police arrested William Banda, a prominent MMD leader, for “unlawful assembly” while he held a meeting with 19 other MMD members at a restaurant in Lusaka. He was subsequently released.
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