There is palpable tension in Zambia ahead of presidential elections scheduled for next week which has now prompting an unprecedented deployment of the military to clamp down on violence.
Africa Daily News, New York understands that the August 12 ballot is essentially a two-horse race between longstanding adversaries — President Edgar Lungu, 64, and Hakainde Hichilema, 59, who is making his sixth bid for the top job.
Rival supporters wielding axes and machetes have clashed sporadically since campaigning started in May, resulting in at least three deaths, according to police.
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All the fatalities were members of the ruling Patriotic Front (PF).
After two were clubbed to death at the weekend, Lungu sent in the army to help the police maintain “law and order”.
‘I have taken this step in order to ensure that the electoral process… is not interfered with,’ he said in a statement last Sunday.
But the move sparked concern of heavy-handedness.
‘It’s clearly an intimidation technique,’ said Ringisai Chikohomero, a researcher at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS) think tank, told newsmen.
‘Lungu wants something that can tip the balance in his favour and a heavy military presence is likely to do that.’
Violence has mainly been concentrated around Lusaka, traditionally a Lungu stronghold, and in the Northern and Northwestern provinces — respectively bastions of the PF and the largest opposition group, the United Party for National Development (UPND).
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
