Hs main rival, Hakainde Hichilema, won 47.67%.
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Edgar Chagwa Lungu (born 11 November 1956) took over office since January 2015 following the death of President Michael Sata.
In that election, Mr. Lungu defeated Mr. Hichilema by fewer than 28,000 votes.
Both the ECZ and Patriotic Front have rejected Hichilema’s claims, with one of the ruling party’s officials accusing the opposition leader of making inflammatory statements.
Al Jazeera’s Tania Page, reporting from the capital Lusaka, said Hichilema “has really been able to cast a lot of doubt over the process”, raising many complaints about the campaign period and vote counting process.
If no candidate manages to win more than 50 percent this time, Zambia will have to hold a second round of elections.
“The proof of what we are talking about is the fact that, the results announced at the totalling centres do not reflect the correct record of the proceedings in constituencies where voting took place”, he added. “ECZ is creating tension in the nation, they need to release the results like now because Lusaka is literally a walking distance or you can drive to all the seven constituencies in Lusaka district”, Hichilema said.
The electoral body has put the voter turnout at 56.4 percent, an increase from 32 percent voters who participated in last year’s presidential election.
And Hichilema noted that it would not do for PF functionaries to play psychological warfare tactics in a bid to convince Zambians that Lungu was on the verge of retaining the Republican presidency.
The ECZ had hoped to have final results from the elections – in which Zambians also chose members of parliament, mayors and local councillors and decided on proposed constitutional changes – by early Sunday.
While people voted in a peaceful manner, the run-up to the elections was marred by violence between Lungu’s supporters and those of the main challenger.
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Lungu’s short term in office has been marked by the falling price of copper, the country’s key export, with inflation rising to over 20 percent and unemployment soaring. She further said there should be no interruption in the electronic transmission of the election results.
