Allegations by Zambia's opposition leader Michael Sata of vote rigging cast a pall over Thursday's election to choose a successor to deceased president Levy Mwanawasa and stoked fears of violence in Africa's largest copper producer, according to dpa. The mood on voting day itself was calm as Zambians made their way from dawn to over 6,000 polling stations nationwide to choose a successor to Mwanawasa, who died of a stroke in August. The election is a two-horse race between ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) candidate, acting president Rupiah Banda, 71, and opposition Patriotic Front leader Sata, also 71. Two other candidates are also running. After casting his vote in the capital Lusaka, the populist Sata accused the police and army of working with the Zambia Electoral Commission (ZEC) to rig the elections in Banda's favour. The ZEC has persistently rejected allegations by Sata of plans to rig the vote. Sata also said threats by army commander Isaac Chisuzi this week to deal harshly with people inciting violence were aimed at intimidating voters. Early voter turnout was sluggish in much of the country but the pace picked up during the day. An outdated voters roll of only 3.9 million voters for a population of around 11.7 million people was blamed for low voting levels in some areas.
