These elections were, in a sense, a rerun of last year’s elections as Mr. Lungu took office in January last year after a keenly contested election against Mr. Hichilema.
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UPND President Hakainde Hichilema has accused the country’s election mangers the Electoral Commission of Zambia of deliberately not providing the G12 in Lusaka so as to live room for manipulation of results.
The opposition party quickly rejected the result, claiming the electoral commission had colluded to rig the vote against its candidate.
He added that the party was confident that the constitutional court would “rise above board and declare the results a nullity”.
The victor of the presidential election in one of the most stable democracies in Africa must get more than half the vote, failing which the top two candidates face a re-run.
The ECZ had planned to announce results to the election on Sunday, but said that the counting process had taken longer than expected due to a turnout of 56.22 percent, much higher than the 32 percent recorded in 2015.
Patriotic Front General Secretary Davies Chama celebrates while holding a portrait of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu in the capital, Lusaka.
With votes counted in 132 out of 156 constituencies, Mr Lungu has 50.1% of the vote against 47.7% for Mr Hichilema, according to the ECZ.
Hichilema, who failed in four previous bids to win the presidency, said he wouldn’t accept the outcome.
Lungu’s PF had already been declared victor of Lusaka’s central district.
Lungu will rule for a second five-year term.
“By going to the commission he wanted to force the police to arrest him”, said Bwalya. She further said there should be no interruption in the electronic transmission of the election results.
He blamed Hichilema’s party for the delays, saying they had raised numerous complaints with the electoral commission. He won a tight election over rival opposition leader Hichilema a year ago.
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Zambia has enjoyed a history of conducting peaceful elections, with its election climate being held up as a model for democracy in Africa.
