General elections were held in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

on 28 September 2006 to elect a

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

, members of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

and local government councillors. The result was a victory for the ruling

Movement for Multi-Party Democracy The Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) also known as New Hope MMD is a political party in Zambia. Originally formed to oust the previous government, MMD controlled an absolute majority in parliament between 1991 and 2001, when its past lead ...

, which won 75 of the 150 National Assembly seats and whose candidate,

Levy Mwanawasa Levy Patrick Mwanawasa (3 September 1948 – 19 August 2008) was the third president of Zambia. He served as president from January 2002 until his death in August 2008. Mwanawasa is credited with having initiated a campaign to rid the corrupt ...

, won the presidential vote.

Voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...

was just over 70%.

Campaign

During the campaign, Patriotic Front leader

Michael Sata Michael Charles Chilufya Sata (6 July 1937 – 28 October 2014) was a Zambian politician who was the fifth president of Zambia, from 23 September 2011 until his death on 28 October 2014. A social democrat, he led the Patriotic Front (PF), a maj ...

was strongly critical of

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

investment in the country and suggested that he would recognize the Republic of China (Taiwan). One opinion poll in September gave Sata a considerable lead over Mwanawasa, 52% to 27%, with

Hakainde Hichilema Hakainde Hichilema (born 4 June 1962) is a Zambian businessman, farmer, and politician who is the seventh and current president of Zambia since 24 August 2021. After having contested five previous elections in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015 and 20 ...

in third place at 20%, but Mwanawasa questioned these results. Another poll earlier in the month gave Mwanawasa the lead with 33% to Sata's 24%, although this marked a drop from the 45% reported for Mwanawasa by a previous poll in August, and an increase for Sata, who had been at 15%. Former president

Kenneth Kaunda Kenneth David Kaunda (28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021), also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first President of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from British rule. Diss ...

backed Hichilema and expressed disapproval for Sata. Former president

Frederick Chiluba Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba (30 April 1943 – 18 June 2011) was a Zambian politician who was the second president of Zambia from 1991 to 2002. Chiluba, a trade union leader, won the country's multi-party presidential election in 1991 as t ...

urged people to vote for Sata. The possibility was raised that Sata could be disqualified from the election for allegedly giving a false declaration of assets in August; he had claimed that a former minister in Mwanawasa's government owed him $100,000.

Results

The winner of the presidential elections was determined in one round according to the

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

system. Initial results from the election gave Sata the lead, but further results put Mwanawasa in first place and pushed Sata into third place. Interim results released after votes from 120 of 150 constituencies were counted put Mwanawasa on just over 42% of the vote; Hakainda Hichilema had 28%; and Michael Sata had slipped to 27%. When opposition supporters heard that Sata had slipped from first to third place, riots erupted in Lusaka. According to interim results Mwanawasa still held an easy lead in constituencies counted up to 16:00 on 1 October. Late in the afternoon of 2 October, the Zambian Electoral Commission announced that Mwanawasa had officially won the election with 43% of the vote; Sata took second place with 29% and Hichilema took third place with 25%.Poll victory for Zambia president
BBC News, 2 October 2006 He was sworn in for another term on 3 October. The total electorate was 3,941,229 and 2,789,114 votes were cast of which 48,936 were spoilt. Voter turnout was 70.77%.

President

National Assembly

The elections in Lupososhi (19,230 registered voters) and Kabompo East (16,148) were postponed due to the death of candidates. Both seats were won by the MMD when the delayed elections were held.Zambia: National Assembly: Elections held in 2006
Inter-Parliamentary Union

References

External links

Zambia Votes 2006
BBC News {{Zambian elections

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Elections in Zambia