Zambia’s incumbent President Edgar Lungu was on Monday declared the victor of a closely-fought election in the southern African country, a victory that was immediately challenged by his main rival.
Advertisement
However, the official results are being challenged by the opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema, who has alleged electoral fraud.
Zambians await their turn to cast their votes during the presidential and parliamentary elections in the capital, Lusaka, Zambia, August 11, 2016.
According to Voice of America, Mr. Mwiimbu said that the UPND had “documentary proof” of some Zambians celebrating after the chairman of the Zambia Electoral Commission, Justice Essau Chulu, announced that the Dubai company had won the bidding to print the ballot papers.
“Zambia needs to remain peaceful”.
In a news conference Sunday, Hichilema cited irregularities in the count in Lusaka, and demanded a recount.
With emotions running high as parties awaited results, the ECZ would need to clearly demonstrate it was acting to resolve complaints to retain the confidence of the electorate, political analyst Lee Habasonda of the University of Zambia said.
Initially, Isaac told local and worldwide observers that results would start being announced at 14:00 hours.
Lungu narrowly beat Hichilema by less than 28 000 votes in last year’s presidential election called after the death of President Michael Sata. She further said there should be no interruption in the electronic transmission of the election results.
About 6,7 million voters turned up to vote for a president, lawmakers, local councillors and city mayors and in a referendum meant to amend part three of the constitution which deals with people’s rights.
An EU monitoring team also voiced concern about the violence in the run-up to the vote, which led to campaigning being suspended for 10 days – a move which the observers said had hampered smaller parties running for office.
Advertisement
When asked about the delays, Lungu’s spokesman Amos Chanda said in a statement that the president was allowing the authorities “necessary room to do their job”. Hichilema, 54, an economist and businessman who has failed in four previous bids for the presidency, has said he will revive growth, promote investment and ensure state funds are better spent.
