Zambia general election, which took place on August 12, 2021, has come and gone. But the lessons from that general election will be far reaching not only for Zambia, but the rest of Africa. The election has among other things shown that Africans are capable of organising elections if they embrace the right values.
The election which constitutes an ‘African example’ had the opposition party, led by Hakainde Hichilema, a businessman defeating the incumbent, Edgar Lungu, who has led the country since 2015. This landslide victory of Hakainde Hichilema did not come so easy as the victory was coming after 5 failed attempts at the Zambian presidency by Hakainde Hichilema.
The election itself did not come without the usual disputation that often threatens elections in African countries as the two leading parties accused each other of violence. Although the incumbent, Edgar Lungu finally conceded victory to the opposition leader and congratulated him on the victory in the election, he however initially threatened to contest the results after alleging that the election was not free and fair. With the congratulatory message, respite came not only to Zambians but to the entire African continent and indeed the international community who were worried over what the political logjam could further do to the fragile economy of Zambia ranked among the world’s poorest countries.
Zambian, a country of 18 million people, has through its electioneering process given its people the platform to make informed choices based on demonstrable ability of contesting candidates. It was indeed a new dawn for Zambia, and a new dawn for Africa!
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Hakainde Hichilema’s victory is the third time an opposition leader has unseated an incumbent president in Zambia since 1991. The victory bequeaths on the new president and his party, the United Party for National Development (UPND), the immense task of restoring the rule of law, fixing the ailing economy and uniting a divided nation.
The election was effectively a referendum on Lungu and the conduct of his party during his tenure from 2015 to 2021. Zambians opted to believe in the campaign promises of his opponent. Hichilema promised to grow the economy to alleviate people’s suffering, restore the rule of law, end corruption and that, unlike his opponents, he was not contesting to secure a job.
Opposition leaders in Nigeria have a lot to learn from the victory of Hakainde Hichelima especially with regards to consistency and focus
With this feat, Zambia is now leading the way as one of a very small number of countries to move away from authoritarianism. Besides, it came after a period of growing repression that had weakened key democratic institutions and led to fears that the country could become the “new Zimbabwe”. Moreover, despite President Lungu enjoying so many advantages of incumbency that the opposition was effectively competing with one hand tied behind its back, Hichilema won comprehensively.
This is another confirmation that Africans are beginning to demonstrate that an incumbent must have an attractive scorecard to present to his electorate to stand a chance of being re-elected. It happened in Nigeria in 2015, it happened in Ghana when incumbent president, John Mahama was defeated by Nana Akufo-Addo and it also happened in Gambia. The lessons of the Zambian election about how entrenched authoritarians can be removed from power are worth learning, for opposition parties, like Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigeria and all those who care about democracy.
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Opposition leaders in Nigeria have a lot to learn from the victory of Hakainde Hichelima especially with regards to consistency and focus. Even after failing at previous attempts, Hakainde Hichelima made himself the rallying point of opposition in Zambia providing alternative platforms and perspectives with which Zambians benchmark policies and performances of the ruling party. Unlike what we have in Nigeria where politicians lose elections and go to sleep waiting for the next four years to resurface.
PDP as an opposition party in Nigeria must be more coherent this time around like the UPND of Zambia was, after Hichilema persuaded eight opposition parties to back him ahead of the election. PDP remains the only credible opposition party, and should make itself a ‘change vehicle’ for Nigerians to believe in and be willing to support to take over power in 2023, but the internal rumbling seen recently in the party leaves much to be desired.
In Zambia, the Hichilema’s UPND made a real effort to expand its support base beyond its traditional constituencies in the Western, Southern and North-western provinces. The party targeted the urban areas of Lusaka and the Copper belt, where they focused on unemployment and rallied youths on social media, speaking in their language and using the popular moniker “Bally”. The party also appointed Mutale Nalumango, an experienced politician from the Bemba-speaking Muchinga and Northern Province – ruling party bases – to be the Presidential running mate. The opposition party in Nigeria should take a leaf from UPND and concentrate on building bridges that will connect them to every ethnic and tribal sector in Nigeria rather than unnecessary divide the Nation.
Another lesson from Zambia is that the UPND protected their vote. Unlike in 2016, when UPND election monitors had a limited presence in key areas, the opposition appears to have deployed agents in almost all the 12,152 polling stations in 2021. This made it very difficult for the government to manipulate the vote. Once the counting was done and the votes were tallied at constituency level, party agents faxed the signed results forms to their representatives at the national totalling centre in Lusaka to make sure their figures matched those announced by the electoral commission.
Research has proven that elections in Nigeria are rigged through various means such as flooding the polling units with armed military personnel to intimidate voters. Late arrival of electoral materials and ballot boxes snatching system.
Opposition parties in Nigeria must not just be ready to work as a formidable team to tackle and check mate these acts, but must also have well mapped out strategies to protect their votes at every polling unit.
Finally, the Nigerian electorate must learn to hold every government accountable with the power of their votes and they must be willing to wield that power anytime any government takes them for granted. It is only through such bold affirmation that democracy can flourish in the country and Africa as a whole.
