Zambia’s ruling party picks candidates for elections

LUSAKA – Zambia’s ruling party has picked a “winning team” of candidates for this year’s general elections, including senior opposition members who defected to their camp, an official said yesterday.

The 150 candidates were picked by the national executive of President Levy Mwanawasa’s Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) on Saturday for the upcoming polls, the party’s national secretary Katele Kalumba said. “This is the list of our winning team.We are now ready for the elections,” Kalumba said.Mwanawasa is seeking a second term in the elections, in which voters will also choose members of parliament and representatives of local governments.No date has yet been announced for the polls in Zambia, a landlocked southern African country where some 70 per cent of its 11 million people live below the poverty line.The MMD will field some former opposition lawmakers on its party list, including Health Minister Sylvia Masebo, who has left the opposition Zambia Republican Party to join the MMD.Other former opposition heavyweights who have defected and figure on the list of electoral candidates include junior Defence Minister Patricia Nawa, and prominent former opposition lawmakers Miriam Nakatindi and Jonas Shakafuswa.Mwanawasa is expected to dissolve parliament soon and announce the election dates.- Nampa-AFP”This is the list of our winning team.We are now ready for the elections,” Kalumba said.Mwanawasa is seeking a second term in the elections, in which voters will also choose members of parliament and representatives of local governments.No date has yet been announced for the polls in Zambia, a landlocked southern African country where some 70 per cent of its 11 million people live below the poverty line.The MMD will field some former opposition lawmakers on its party list, including Health Minister Sylvia Masebo, who has left the opposition Zambia Republican Party to join the MMD.Other former opposition heavyweights who have defected and figure on the list of electoral candidates include junior Defence Minister Patricia Nawa, and prominent former opposition lawmakers Miriam Nakatindi and Jonas Shakafuswa.Mwanawasa is expected to dissolve parliament soon and announce the election dates.- Nampa-AFP