The march of democracy slows

MUSIC blasts from speakers mounted on the back of a truck in a rubbish dump in a corner of Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. Young men with bandannas over their faces form a security cordon. Children climb on top of a dumpster to get a better view. A woman swigs from a bottle of local rum as she dances provocatively on the makeshift stage. A man in a suit steps up and the music stops. “Zambia!” he shouts. “Zambia!” roars back the crowd.

This is not a music festival. It is a political rally. Yet for all the jovial colour of the occasion, democracy in Zambia is not well. The rally was held on a stinking rubbish dump because the government refused to let Hakainde Hichilema, the main opposition candidate for the presidency, use any other public space in the area. Mr Hichilema was repeatedly refused permission to fly his helicopter to campaign elsewhere. The country’s leading independent newspaper, the Post, was shut down, ostensibly over a tax bill, after it reported on what it said were plans to rig the election. Several rallies turned violent, leaving at least one person dead.