Post date: Aug 12, 2011 11:31:26 AM
President Rupiah Banda presents nomination papers for elections in September after he was cleared by the high court to contest the presidency. The opposition had made efforts to block him from running owing to his parentage.
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA (AUGUST 10, 2011) REUTERS - Supporters of Zambia's incumbent president Rupiah Banda flooded the outside of the Supreme Court in their blue Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) party colors as candidates for September elections presented their nominations papers this week.
For Banda, getting to the stage did not come without controversy: the main opposition Patriotic Front (PF) party had asked the high court to block Banda from taking part in the elections, saying his father was not Zambian.
According to the Zambian constitution, a presidential candidate's parents should both be Zambian by birth for one to be eligible.On Tuesday (August 10) Banda who moved into the presidency after the 2008 death of his predecessor, Levy Mwanawasa was cleared by the courts to take part in next month's polls .
"That I am a Zambian citizen, that both my parents are Zambian citizens by birth, that my father's full names were Bwezani Banda. He was born on the 19th... he was born in 1908 in the village of Chikuwe, Chipata," said Banda as he presented his nomination papers.
Banda dissolved parliament in July and set September 20 as the date for elections that are likely to hand him and his MMD party another five years in power in Africa's biggest copper producer.
"I think that I deserve to be given another chance to complete the next five years because I think that I have done the best that a human being can do under the circumstances and under such a limited time. We have worked, we have built schools that we could build within the three years, we have built hospitals, we have fixed bridges, we have increased electricity reticulation and transmission and generation. We have done the best we can but most importantly we have kept our country at peace and united and ruled by law," said Banda.
With the 13 billion US dollar economy running at more than 6 percent annual growth, Banda was always in a strong position for the presidential and parliamentary polls and analysts said that could improve if he manages to capitalise on divisions in the opposition.
Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata, a gruff populist who has criticised Asian investment in the mining sector, gave Banda a close run in the former British colony's 2008 election.
Sata, who presented his papers a day after his rival Banda called for calm in the run up to the polls.
"You should resist the provocation... there is going to be lots of provocation but those it's because of poverty why people can come and start troubles for three kwacha (currency)," said Sata.
More than 10 presidential contenders out of an expected 18 filed nomination papers for this year's polls. Some candidates have pulled out of the race to back stronger candidates.
One of them was Cosmo Mumba, president for the National Revolution party who accused some contenders of running only to spread the votes thin.
"To these political parties that have successfully filed in, I am calling all of them vote spoilers and they are just wasting Zambia people's time and they are wasting precious votes from this, the people of Zambia. Our time is 2016," he said.
Since independence in 1964, Zambian elections have tended to pass off peacefully. The central bank says increased demand for goods and services during the two-month campaign could push growth above the government's 7 percent forecast.
However, violence-free polls are not guaranteed. Dozens of people were wounded in April 2010 during clashes between rival parliamentary by-election supporters, and Sata's narrow 2008 loss prompted accusations of MMD electoral fraud.
The southern African country is regarded as one of the more sensibly run frontier economies in the region and is attracting large amounts of outside investment to its mining and agricultural sectors.