#michael sata

[ourafricadesk-blog]

Zambia Elects New President

Elected Edgar Lungu, the former defense minister of the ruling Patriotic Front (PF), was sworn in as the country's new President last Sunday, defeating his opponent Hakainde Hichilema. The election was held in light of the death of Michael Sata on October 28, 2014. Lungu is slated to continue Sata's policies. 

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[newsdock]

Zambia's new president Lungu pledges unity after tight vote

Zambia's new President Edgar Lungu was sworn in Sunday, pledging to unite the country and rebuild the economy after narrowly winning a vote rejected by the opposition. Lungu, the former defence minister from the ruling Patriotic Front (PF), takes over the helm for the remainder of the late Michael Sata's term until a general election scheduled for September 2016. http://dlvr.it/8DrqvQ

[newsdock]

Zambia: Ruling party candidate wins presidential election

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — The candidate from the ruling Patriotic Front, Edgar Lungu, has won Zambia's presidential election called after President Michael Sata died in October, the acting chief justice announced late Saturday. http://dlvr.it/8DfhJ7

[newsdock]

Lungu: Zambia's 'humble' new president with fighting spirit

Zambia's new president Edgar Lungu describes himself as an "ordinary Zambian of humble beginnings" but he showed his fighting spirit when he overcame a bruising internal power struggle to become the ruling Patriotic Front's candidate to replace the late Michael Sata. Lungu's slim victory puts him in charge of Africa's second biggest copper producer until elections next year. "He is a team player, he does not look down on others and he is not the 'I know it all' type as the case is with some legal brains," said Alex Ng'oma, a political analyst at the University of Zambia. http://dlvr.it/8DQKQq

[newsdock]

Zambia ruling party candidate takes early lead in vote

Zambia's ruling party candidate Edgar Lungu on Thursday edged ahead in the race to replace the late president Michael Sata, authorities said as voting continued in parts of the country. According to the Electoral Commission of Zambia, ballots from 90 of the 150 constituencies had been counted by Thursday afternoon. Lungu, the ruling Patriotic Front's candidate, was leading with 590,252 votes, closely followed by opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development with 524,976. Nevers Mumba of the former ruling party Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) was meanwhile trailing a distant third with 8,831 ballots. http://dlvr.it/8CBzXz

[newsdock]

Boats, oxen deployed to save Zambia's rain-hit election

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 Wednesday. 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 on Wednesday 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. http://dlvr.it/89zvH0

[newsdock]

Rainstorms mar Zambia's presidential vote

Heavy rains on Tuesday held up the start of voting in parts of Zambia, where a close-fought presidential election was under way to replace Michael Sata, who died in office last year. "A number of polling stations will start tomorrow (Wednesday)," elections director Priscilla Isaacs said late Tuesday. Material for more than 140 polling stations and some 1,500 polling officers were to have been airlifted to villages cut off by the rains Tuesday. Voters in at least two dozen out of around 6,000 polling stations are expected to cast ballots on Wednesday. http://dlvr.it/89dqsQ

[newsdock]

Zambia presidential hopeful vows to revise 'penal' mining tax

A leading contender in Zambia's presidential elections, Hakainde Hichilema, on Sunday vowed to review a new 'penal' mining tax regime that has spooked investors in the copper-rich nation. Zambia tripled mining royalties to 20 percent from six percent on January 1, putting the government at loggerheads with mining firms already buckling under a fall in global commodity prices. Hichilema, a wealthy businessman and leader of the United Party for National Development (UPND), is seen as a frontrunner in elections on Tuesday, along with the ruling Patriotic Front candidate Edgar Lungu. Hichilema says he will build an investor-friendly Zambia and review the "terrible, penal" tax if elected to succeed former president Michael Sata, who died in October. http://dlvr.it/88JrfJ