Presidential elections in Zambia, opposition candidate voting

(27 Dec 2001)

1. Pull out from polling station sign to wide of polling station
2. Crowd of people waiting to vote
3. Wide shot of Anderson Mazoka, Leader of the United Party for National Development, arriving to vote
4. Press waiting outside polling station
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Anderson Mazoka, Leader of the United Party for National Development: "(Q: Can you just tell me on what grounds is your confidence based?) It is on the basis of the response we have seen through the public over the years, the message we have is very acceptable to the Zambian people, they have responded to us, they have talked to us and it gives us the confidence that we are going to be successful.
(Q: Do you think that the elections are going to be free and fair?) We are receiving reports that are disturbing, that there is some attempts to rig but we are confident that the majority of people will see the right way."
6. Polling boxes inside the polling station
7. Woman voting
8. Pan from election official to Mazoka
9. Mazoka's wife voting
10. Mazoka voting
11. Woman voting

STORYLINE:

Opposition leader and election favourite Anderson Mazoka, who heads the United Party for National Development, cast his vote in Zambia's national elections on Thursday.

Zambians, who have known only two leaders in their nation's 37 years of existence, are going to the polls for presidential and parliamentary elections.

Outgoing president Frederick Chiluba of the ruling party Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) is not running as the constitution forbids a third term.

Although there was no clear frontrunner in the latest polls, Anderson Mazoka was leading the pack.

Mazoka, who entered politics in 1997 and founded the party he now runs, presents himself as a manager and capable government outsider who can turn Zambia's ailing economy around.

Eighty-six percent of Zambia's population live below the poverty line.

Originally a mechanical engineer, Mazoka was managing director of the Anglo-American Corporation, a major copper mining company.

Most of his support comes from the southern and western regions of the country - he's been pegged as a regionalist who is uninterested in other parts of the country.

But he's also been commended by observers for surrounding himself with capable advisers.

The people of this poor southern African country are choosing between 11 presidential candidates, including businessmen, ex-generals and even a television evangelist.

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