Opposition party supporters in Zambia clashed with riot
police, looted shops and set fire to shops and vehicles today
after their leader admitted defeat in the country's general
election.
Riot police unleashed volleys of tear gas and fired
ammunition into the air in a bid to quell the violence and made
scores of arrests as Patriotc Front (PF) supporters unleashed
their fury at the victory of incumbent President Levy Mwanawasa.
Michael Sata, the PF leader, claimed there had been
widespread fraud and said Mr Mwanawasa had "stolen victory".
However, he urged his supporters to remain calm and said he
would not be challenging the result in court.
Mr Sata, nicknamed King Cobra for his assertive style, said:
"Once Mwanawasa is declared the winner, I will congratulate
him for successfully stealing the vote. I am not going to
petition (the supreme court) because I have no time to waste in
court. I will go back to the people and thank them for their
support but I will put up a big battle inside parliament and
outside parliament."
The comments came after the latest set of results showed that
Mr Mwanawasa had a commanding lead with only 10 per cent of
polling districts still to declare.
Mr Mwanawasa, leader of the Movement for Multi-Party
Democracy (MMD), had 1,065,732 (43 percent) of the 2.52 million
votes counted in 135 of the 150 districts, elections commission
chairperson Ireen Mambilima told reporters.
Mr Sata was in second place with 686,654 votes, representing
27 per cent of the total. Hakainde Hichilema, head of a
three-party alliance, was in third place with 668,396 votes.
Both Mr Sata and Mr Hichilema have voiced unhappiness about
the counting process, with the Patriotic Front alleging that
some 400,000 ballots are unaccounted for. The elections
commission has said it is investigating the complaints.
Asked if he was making a formal concession of defeat, Mr Sata
replied: "How can I concede when I am complaining of votes
being stolen?"
However Mr Sata, who has a massive following among Zambia’s
urban poor, repeated an earlier appeal for calm from his
supporters.
"We are not going to do anything that will destroy
Zambia," he said.
Mr Sata’s pleas, however, failed to put a halt to a second
day of rioting in slum areas of the capital, Lusaka, where a mob
looted and set fire to stores owned by Mr Mwanawasa supporters
as well as clashing with the security forces.
A number of the protestors sustained cuts and bruises as they
were arrested but there was no sign of serious casualties.
Some businesses and banks closed for the day as around 20
stores owned by MMD activists were targeted by the rioters who
could be seen making off with their contents.
Residents in the city of Kitwe, in the north of the
copperbelt region, also reported rioting by PF supporters.
Violence first erupted in impoverished neighbourhoods of
Lusaka on Sunday night as Mr Sata slipped well behind Mr
Mwanawasa in the ongoing count of ballots. At one stage, the
army was sent in to restore order.
In spite of the violence and allegations of fraud,
international observers praised polling day as being efficient
and open. Turn-out among the country's four million voters was
high.
Mr Sata’s campaign was largely based on his pledge to
reverse the plight of the poor in a country where two-thirds of
people live on less than a dollar a day.
But while he performed strongly in urban areas, he has failed
to widen his support to rural regions where Mr Mwanawasa’s
base held up.
Mr Mwanawasa, who has been unable to speak fluently since he
suffered a stroke in April, had asked for more time to make
inroads on poverty levels.
He was seeking a second and final term in office. The
mild-mannered former lawyer acknowledged during the contest that
he had only "scratched the surface". His 2001 victory
was also plagued by accusations of fraud.
The MMD has been in power since 1991 when it ousted Kenneth
Kaunda, the country’s president since independence in 1964. As
well as choosing a president in Thursday’s election, Zambians
also cast their ballots for parliament and municipalities.
