Lungu was declared victor of the tightly contested August 11 polls after getting 1.8 million votes while main opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema got 1.7 million votes.
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Zambia’s main opposition leader filed papers in the constitutional court on Friday challenging the re-election of President Edgar Lungu in last week’s vote.
The electoral body attributed the failure to attain the required threshold to campaigns by some stakeholders who had opposed the holding of the referendum alongside the general elections.
The petition stated that there is need for a recount of the total votes cast across the country due to “numerous irregularities” that were gathered before, during and after the elections.
UPND president Hakainde Hichilema and his running mate Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba have petitioned the election of President Lungu.
The UPND said on Saturday that data from its own parallel count showed Hichilema beating Lungu “with a clear margin” with about 80 percent of votes counted. “The voter register was not credible and its non-availability before the elections compromised the transparency of the electoral process”, the petition says.
He also says in the petition that the number of ballots cast in favour of Lungu was inflated by fake, pre-marked ballots, and asked that the court nullify Lungu’s victory.
Lungu and the electoral commission, an independent state agency set up by the constitution, who are among the respondents named in the petition, have rejected Hichilema’s accusation that fraud discredited the August 11 vote.
The speaker of parliament should take over the presidency until the court delivers its ruling, according lawyer Phiri.
Edgar Lungu was first elected President of Zambia on January 25th 2015 to serve the remainder of former President Sata’s term following his death in October 2014.
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Zambia, which gained independence from Britain in 1964, has a long history of peaceful power transitions.
