ZAMBIA GOES TO THE POLLS
Oct 30th, 2008 by admin
Zambians began voting early today in what is expected to be a hotly contested election. The election to replace the late president Levy Mwanawasa pits acting President Rupiah Banda from the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) against the leader of the opposition Patriotic Front, Michael Sata. Polls are expected to close early this evening with results due tomorrow. The opposition has already claimed the poll has been rigged in favour of the ruling party candidate. An earlier plan by the Electoral Commission of Zambia to print an additional 600,000 ballot papers was rejected by the opposition. Mr Sata has said he will not accept the poll result if he loses. He is urging his supporters to sleep at polling stations to thwart vote rigging. The army chief has said that election-related violence will not be tolerated.
