Zambia to hold general elections to decide president, parliamentarians and district councils
Zambia will hold general elections today to elect its president, parliamentarians and district council-members.
Amongst the sixteen candidates running for the presidency, Edgar Lungu, the current President of Zambia of the center-left Patriotic Front (PF) and Hakainde Hichilema of the centralist, liberal United Party for National Development (UPND) are favorites.
Recent developments have sparked outrage amongst UNDP supporters, who argue that Lungu is manipulating the elections by administering fraudulent voter registration—despite the West’s condemnation—to tilt the odds in his favor. This has led to violent clashes between the Zambian police and protestors.
Although Zambia’s youth population is in favor of change, the unfair circumstances in which the elections will probably convene at will pave the way for Lungu to snatch a victory. In that case, Lungu will likely push for constitutional reforms during the short- to medium-term to limit the National Assembly’s authority to intervene in presidential affairs. However, this will prompt uneasiness amongst Zambia’s young voters who strongly resent PF’s domestic policies which have caused an economic turmoil in the country. Lusaka’s political corruption such as tax evasion and money laundering won’t stop in the long-term as succeeding leaders will fail to address the wide scale problem.
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