As if I needed it, I was reminded that the five-year process was happening today by a text from my accountant promoting votes for one of the parties.
Due to my role as a Peace Corps Volunteer, and therefore an invited guest of the Zambian government, there are great proscriptions on what I can say about politics in Zambia, so I appropriately will say nothing of the parties themselves. I'll just say what I hope ... I hope there's no real violence; Africa is replete with tales of bloody elections (e.g., Kenya in 2008, every election in Zimbabwe since 1983, Ivory Coast last year, etc., etc., etc.). Zambia seems to be the one exception to all that ... I can't ascribe it to anything other than Zambians' collective love of, and pride in, their status as a "peaceful nation". Also, as anyone who's been here can tell you, the country is so darn big and empty that violence has less of tendency to spread outside of urban areas, nor can accurate news of violence or chicanery spread from the outside-in. Though the use of the mobile internet has grown, this sort of connectivity has remained limited to urban areas.
In reality, it's not today that's "tricky" (to quote the latest Zambian buzzword to describe the election). The interesting days will be Thursday or Friday, when the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) announces the results. That's when this weary, wandering agriculturalist will hold his breath and earnestly pray.
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