By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Zambian President Edgar Lungu has declared Thursday’s presidential and parliamentary election “not free and fair” after incidents of violence in three provinces, he said in a surprise statement released on Saturday.
Lungu, who was trailing his main contender Hakainde Hichilema in early results from the electoral commission, said the Patriotic Front party that he leads was consulting on its next course of action.
“Lungu says the general election in three provinces, namely, Southern province, North Western province, and Western Province, were characterised by violence, rendering the whole exercise a nullity,” the statement from his office said.
He said Patriotic Front polling agents were brutalised and chased from polling stations, a “situation that left the ruling party’s votes unprotected” in those three provinces.
Citing the killing of a party chairman in North Western province during voting and the death of another man, Lungu said these criminal acts rendered the general election “not free and fair”.
Lungu brought in army reinforcements to help quell violence when the deaths occurred.
Lungu, 64, has been in power since 2015. Hichilema – known as “HH” – is a businessman who has criticised the president’s management of an economy in turmoil.
Results from 31 of the country’s 156 constituencies gave Hichilema 449,699 votes versus the 266,202 garnered by Lungu, who is running for a second five-year term.
Some constituencies include perceived Lungu strongholds, suggesting Hichilema has gained ground since the last elections in 2016, when he lost by a slim margin in elections marred by allegations of rigging.
The first results had initially been expected on Friday. They were delayed after counting went on overnight following a heavy turnout and because political parties objected to the electoral commission’s initial figures in one constituency, which differed with those from monitors on the ground.
An estimated 7 million people registered to vote in the presidential and parliamentary elections in Zambia, Africa’s second biggest copper producer.