Boats, oxen deployed to save Zambia’s rain-hit polls

LUSAKA – Boats and ox-wagons were deployed to get ballot papers to parts of Zambia hit by torrential rains as presidential elections were extended for a second day yesterday.

A planned airlift of ballot papers and polling officers to remote villages on Tuesday was disrupted by “extreme thunderstorms” which grounded flights, election authorities said.

Voters in at least two dozen out of around 6 000 polling stations are now expected to cast ballots yesterday in a close-fought presidential election to replace Michael Sata, who died in office last year.

In one area, polling material will first have to be transported by boat, then the polling officers will have to walk for three hours before jumping on ox-drawn carts to polling stations, according to the electoral commission.

The delay in the delivery of polling material initially led a frontrunner in the vote, opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND), to cry foul and allege fraud.

Fifty-two-year-old Hichilema, a wealthy businessman, is seen as the main challenger to Defence Minister Edgar Lungu (58) who represents the ruling Patriotic Front (PF).

“We have no control over the weather,” said elections director Priscilla Isaacs.

The head of a Southern African observer team, South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane commended the electoral body for holding a “generally peaceful” vote under “challenging” conditions.

Results started to trickle in yesterday from a handful urban centres, but a final national tally was not expected until tomorrow.

The first counts in four of the 150 constituencies, showed Lungu leading in three and Hichilema in one.

The vote was triggered after Sata died in October last year from an undisclosed illness.

At stake is the remaining year and a half of his five-year term in the copper-rich nation.

In the absence of reliable opinion polls, analysts hedged their bets.

“It’s a two-horse race,” said Oliver Saasa, CEO of Premier Consult, a business and economic consultancy firm. “It’s quite clear this is a very closely run race.”

Hichilema’s camp is seen to have received a boost from the infighting within another major opposition party, the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), whose candidate Nevers Mumba has little chance.

Lungu’s PF, meanwhile, went into the vote badly fractured by a bitter power struggle after Sata’s death in October.

– Nampa-AFP

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.