Zambian President Edgar Lungu narrowly won re-election on Monday, in a vote his main rival Hakainde Hichilema rejected on claims of alleged rigging by the electoral commission.
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Hichilema said late Sunday that unexplained delays in releasing the results of Thursday’s vote were a clear sign of fraud to produce a win for Lungu’s Patriotic Front (PF).
UPND candidate Hichikema told reporters at the same news conference that the Electoral Commission of Zambia was turning a blind eye to allegedly falsified results.
Zambia’s capital Lusaka has been brought to a complete standstill.
The opposition, however, has launched a challenge to the result and will appear in court later in the week, Al Jazeera’s Page said.
Zambian President Edgar Lungu has been re-elected for a five-year term after he was declared victor by the electoral body after general elections held last Thursday. “I want him to create jobs for young people”, said 15-year-old Zegu Kaunda who said he wanted to study law like Lungu. He may well be going at it alone because of the fluidity of Zambia’s political landscape.
But PF secretary general Davis Chama, who popped several champagne bottles at Mulungushi Conference Centre where the results were announced, laughed off allegations that the vote was rigged.
In that election, Mr. Lungu defeated Mr. Hichilema by fewer than 28,000 votes.
But Hichilema’s United Party for National Development (UPND) accused electoral officials of colluding in favor of Lungu since vote counting started on Thursday night and said it would appeal the result at the Constitutional Court. This time, his margin of victory was about 200,000 votes.
Lungu was elected in January 2015 after the death of the incumbent president, Michael Sata.
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The constitution has now been amended so that the vice-president automatically takes office if a sitting president dies.
