00:01Zambia has had to depose on Thursday in the country's eight general elections since the
00:05return to multi-party democracy in 1991, with the economy emerging as the defining issue for voters.
00:14President Akainde Ichilema and his governing United Party and National Development are seeking another five-year term.
00:23These elections are quite unpredictable. You know, when Zambians are quiet, it's difficult to know how they will vote.
00:32You begin to know how they will vote, perhaps on voting day itself, in the way they turn up.
00:38If we have a lot of apathy, low voter turnout, then perhaps you see that maybe it's tilting towards the
00:46embassy.
00:47If you have a huge turnout, as we did in 2021, then you'll see that people were quiet, not because
00:55they were not following.
00:56They were following everything that was happening. They were following the promises that were made.
01:02And maybe they were not happy, and now they are coming out in numbers to ensure that they vote out
01:09the ruling party.
01:13Economist Trevor Ambayi say the government has had enough time to deliver results.
01:24What is speaking around economic turnaround is that you expect a minimum of three years to be able to drive
01:30an economic agenda and turn around a country.
01:34That has passed, and they've had five years, but these effects have not yet trickled down to the Zambian people.
01:42So in essence, I think they had enough time, but they were not able to turn around the economy within
01:48that time.
01:54It says that Zambia missed an opportunity to capitalize on soaring global copper prices.
02:02Look at the positives, which has been the escalation of the price of copper on the global market, which has
02:11reached 13,000 per metric tonne,
02:13which has been positive and that we could have used to be able to drive economic recovery.
02:19With nearly 70% of Zambia's population under the age of 30, the youth vote is expected to play a
02:25decisive role in determining the country's next government.
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