Might the 2021 Zambian elections usher in another period of economic growth?
Salim Dawood/AFP via Getty Images
Whoever wins the elections will face two key challenges: reviving the country’s democratic credentials and stimulating the economy.
Image of a polling station sign in Kasama, Northern Province, in 2015.
Nicole Beardsworth
Distrust of the electoral commission runs deep in the opposition, which may well lead to increased tensions ahead of and following the polls.
Supporters of Zambia’s president-elect Edgar Lungu in 2016. The country is known for peaceful polls, but this one was marked by clashes.
Dawood Salim/AFP via Getty Images
Political legacies generated during authoritarian rule have a tendency to transcend into the multiparty era.
Edgar Lungu supporters at a pre-election rally. The level of polarisation before Zambia’s polls was unprecedented.
Reuters/Stella Mapenzausw
Zambia’s Edgar Lungu shouldn’t consider his presidential victory to mean business as usual in the management of the economy; nor an opportunity to waste and plunder.