Election in Zambia 2006
The 2006 elections in Zambia were held on September 28th. The most promising candidates were the incumbent President Levy Mwanawasa from the Movement for Multiparty Democracy , who was ruled again, Michael Sata from the Patriotic Front and Haikainde Hichilema from the United Party for National Development .
Election campaign
Sata was critical of China's investments and said he would recognize the Republic of China (Taiwan) . An opinion poll in September gave Sata a 52-27 percent lead over Mwanawasa, giving Hichilema third place with 20 percent. Mwanawasa called this survey biased. A previous poll gave Mwanawasa 33 percent before Sata 24 percent. But this survey also signaled a loss of 45 percent for Mwanawasa and a gain of 15 percent for Sata compared to a survey in August. Of the previous presidents, Kenneth Kaunda was in favor of Hichilema and advised against Sata, while Frederick Chiluba urged voters to vote for Sata.
The possibility existed that Sata could be expelled from the presidential election for allegedly providing false information in his filing. This was seen as an attempt by Mwanawasa to make Sata's candidacy impossible.
There were two other candidates, Godfry Miyanda and Kenny Ngongo .
709 candidates (603 men = 85% and 106 women = 15%) applied for parliamentary seats, each of whom had to pay around € 100 for registration. They belonged to a total of 13 political parties or electoral alliances or participated in the election as independents (157). In addition to the five parties that put forward candidates for the presidential election, eight other small parties took part in the National Assembly: Agenda for Change (AC), Direct Democracy Movement (DDM), National Democratic Focus (NDF), New Generation Party ( NGP), National Democratic Party (NDP), Reform Party (RF), United Liberal Party (ULP) and the Zambia Conservative Party (ZCP). Neither party was able to meet the 30% proportion of women required in a SADC declaration . Only the MMD was able to put up candidates in all 150 constituencies.
Election results
The winner of the election was the candidate who received the most votes. There was a simple majority vote. Initial projections saw Sata in the lead, but the final result found Mwanawasa as the winner and put Sata in third place. Interim results, which were published after counting 120 out of 150 constituencies, gave Mwanawasa 42 percent, Haikainda Hichilema with 28 and Sata with 27 percent. When his followers heard that Sata had dropped from first to third place, riots broke out in Lusaka . According to preliminary results from October 1, Mwanawasa still holds the lead.
In the late afternoon of October 2, 2006, the Zambian Electoral Commission declared that Mwanawasa had won the elections.
The number of votes cast was 3,941,229, of which 2,789,114 were valid and 48,936 were invalid. The turnout was 70.77 percent.
Results of the presidential election of September 28, 2006 in Zambia | |||
candidate | Political party | be right | percent |
Levy Mwanawasa | Movement for Multiparty Democracy | 1,177,846 | 42.98% |
Michael Sata | Patriotic front | 804.748 | 29.37% |
Hakainde Hichilema | United Party for National Development | 693.772 | 25.32% |
Godfrey Miyanda | Heritage Party | 42,891 | 1.57% |
Kenny Ngondo | All People's Congress | 20,921 | 0.76% |
total | 2,740,178 | 100% |
Results of the elections to the National Assembly on September 28, 2006 in Zambia | |||
Political party | be right | percent | Mandates |
Movement for Multiparty Democracy | 71 | ||
Patriotic front | 44 | ||
United Democratic Alliance | 27 | ||
United Liberal Party | 2 | ||
National Democratic Focus | 1 | ||
Non-party | 2 | ||
vacant because the candidate has died | 3 | ||
appointed MPs | 8th | ||
President of Parliament (Speaker) | 1 | ||
total | 159 |