Opposition leader Sata opens slight lead in Zambia vote count

Opposition leader Michael Sata continued widening his lead Wednesday night over incumbent Rupiah Banda in Zambia’s close presidential poll with a 73, 000-vote gap between them in 33 out of 150 constituencies.

“From the 33 (constituencies) that we have so far verified, the position is as follows: Mr Michael Sata 265, 843 representing 46.59 per cent, Mr Rupiah Banda 192, 966 representing 33. 82 per cent,” said Justice Irene Mambilima, the chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) at a media briefing Wednesday night.

The commission hopes to receive all the results within “a reasonable” timeframe, said Ms Mambilima, a Supreme Court Judge, as Mr Sata’s party expressed displeasure at the slow flow of the electoral results.

The ECZ shut down its website’s results component after it carried a statement hinting that the commission had announced and declared summarised results from 133 constituencies for the presidential election.

"This information is not correct,” said Justice Mambilima, and warned the media from publishing unsubstantiated stories about results.

Hopeful voter
Voter Janet Phiri, a supporter of President Banda and his Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), said Mr Sata’s lead had not dampened her mood, adding that she was hopeful the incumbent would recover.

"If you remember very well even in 2006 Mr Sata was leading over our (then) president (Levy) Mwanawasa and PF members started celebrating but when we started receiving results from our strongholds in rural areas, we overturned their victory. In 2008 it happened the same way and even now it will be the same,” said Ms Phiri, a marketer at Lusaka City Market.

Mr Sata’s supporters remained upbeat that their leader will finally occupy State House after three unsuccessful attempts.

But Mr Dickson Jere, a spokesman for President Banda, dismissed reports that the final electoral results had been compiled and the head of state had been informed about it.

Source: Africa Review: http://www.africareview.com/News/Opposition+leader+Sata+opens+slight+lead+in+Zambia+vote+count/-/979180/1240834/-/blwadh/-/index.html