Zambia's Mwanawasa fights voter anger despite boom

LUSAKA, Sep 26 (Reuters) Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa faces a tight race for re-election this week, with many poor voters angry over policies which have attracted foreign investment, but have yet to dent widespread poverty.

Six months ago, Mwanawasa basked in praise after Western donors excused billions of dollars in debt to reward his economic programme -- fighting corruption, attracting foreign investment and tightening controls on government spending.

But he has since been stung by a backlash, with political opponents saying he has ''sold out'' to Chinese and other foreigners hungry for Zambia's huge copper deposits and failed to dent widespread poverty in the nation of 10 million people.

His chief challenger in Thursday's race, former cabinet minister Michael Sata, has revelled in the dissatisfaction with Mwanawasa, promising to boost taxes on mines and get tough with Chinese managers accused of exploiting Zambian workers.

A final poll yesterday by an independent group predicted a win by Mwanawasa with 43 percent of the vote, overturning a much larger lead by Sata in an earlier survey.

Political analysts have cautioned against poll predictions of a big win for Sata, saying it remains difficult to assess voter intentions in Zambia's vast rural areas.

A third candidate, businessman Hakainde Hichilema, has polled a distant third but could still end up with a slice of power if the election yields a fragile coalition government, as some political analysts expect.

Mwanawasa, who underwent treatment for a stroke this year, has also been weakened by opposition charges that he is too frail to continue leading the government.

But the portly 58-year-old president has dismissed the accusations, saying he is in fine health and able to serve a second five-year term.

ANGRY MINERS The anger in Zambia -- where more than half the people live on less than a dollar per day -- exploded recently in the northern Copperbelt region, where miners went on a rampage in protests over pay and working conditions.

Sata, a 69-year-old political veteran known as ''King Cobra'' for his strategic cunning, has mounted a populist campaign that has worried some analysts who fear he could spell the end of Zambia's economic boom.

He has promised to cap foreign ownership of mines at 51 per cent and give workers a bigger stake in state-owned firms, as well as increase social spending while cutting taxes.

''Our feelings are that he will have to print money to meet his promises if he wins the elections because there is very little production in the economy,'' one Western diplomat said.

Mwanawasa and his ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy have gone on the offensive, promising at the weekend to get tough on investors who break labour laws, as well as to hire more teachers and health workers.

''I will not sit back. When they fight me, I will fight back,'' Mwanawasa said on Sunday, adding that he did not feel his poor showing in opinion polls reflected true public opinion.

Some analysts agreed.

''The president might be favoured to win because he is in control of state machinery. He has been able to reach out to a wider audience than his opponents as he is using government facilities to campaign,'' said Bennett Siamwiza, a political analyst at the University of Zambia.

Reuters AB DB1811