Zambian Elections

Zambian President Takes Lead in Vote Count

Zambian incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema has taken the lead over rival Brian Mundubile in the ongoing vote count after this week's presidential election. This is reported by the Lusaka Times.

Hichilema has so far received 438,708 votes to the challenger's 351,281. Just over a fifth of the ballots have been counted.

The count was halted for a number of hours on Friday after reports of attacks and threats against election workers. Electoral Commission chief Mwangala Zaloumis says the agency's staff are working as quickly as they can to produce a final result.

- The commission calls on all political parties, candidates and the public to remain calm and be patient as we continue with the vote count.

Observers: Paused vote count spreads concerns

International election observers were shut out of the process when the vote count was halted in Zambia on Friday, Al Jazeera reports.

Reinhold Lopatka, who heads the European Parliament’s election observers in Zambia, describes the pause as “disproportionate.” The Southern African Development Community’s election observers say the pause has created “uncertainty and concern.”

Opposition candidate Brian Mundubile is taking it even further, claiming that the pause “created an opportunity to manipulate the results.” He has previously declared himself the winner of the election, citing the party’s own vote count.

The Electoral Commission suspended the election citing reports of threats and violence linked to the election.

Zambian elections — the point is this

• Zambia’s presidential election was held on Thursday. Hakainde Hichilema won a landslide victory in 2021 and is now seeking a new term in office in an election that seems significantly less certain.
• On Friday, the vote count was temporarily halted following reports of violence against election workers and stolen ballots.
• Nine people have been arrested on suspicion of murdering an election official. Several more arrests have been made in connection with the election.
• Opposition candidate Brian Mundubile declared himself the winner early in the vote count, but according to the official tally, he appears to be trailing Hichilema.