Zambian presidential candidates appear live on television

Seven candidates in the Zambian presidential race held a live public debate, the first of its kind, on state television late Thursday, news reports said. The debate did not include representatives from the country’s two main parties, the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD).

Presidential elections are due in October or November this year, but the three-month-old FDD had not yet picked a candidate to lead its campaign, one report said. It said that among the parties which did participate were the former ruling party of independence leader Kenneth Kaunda, the United National Independence Party (UNIP), now represented by his son Tilyenji Kaunda. According to the report, topics that dominated the debate were the economy, education and candidates’ morality.