SANF 21 no 22 – by Clarkson Mambo
Main opposition candidate in Zambia’s presidential election, Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND) has taken an early lead against his closest rival, incumbent, President Edgar Lungu of the Patriotic Front (PF) as results for the August 12 general elections slowly come in.
According to results released by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) from 31 out of 156 constituencies, Hichilema is leading with 449,699 votes against Lungu’s 226,202.
The 31 constituencies are from across Zambia’s 10 provinces.
President Lungu and Hichilema, who are facing each other for this third time in polls, are by far the leading out of the 16 presidential candidates.
Harry Kalaba of the Democratic Party is a distant third having so far amassed 3,715 votes while Kasonde Mwenda of the Economic Freedom Fighters at 188, has the least presidential votes.
A total of 751,842 valid votes have been counted, with 19,906 having been rejected, according to the ECZ.
This is the sixth multi-party general election Zambia has held since 1991. The country has had six Presidents since then.
Besides the presidency, Zambians also voted to elect Members of Parliament and Local Government representatives.
In the 2016 elections, the PF party won 80 of the 156 parliamentary seats, while the UPND had 58, with the remainder shared among independent candidates and other smaller parties.
Announcement of the first batch of results had been expected a day after the polls, but it was not to be, with ECZ Chairperson, Justice Esau Chulu calling on citizens to be patient, saying some polling stations had closed 11 hours after official closing time due to an overwhelming voter turnout.
“It is important to note that we have experienced high voter turnout and I take this opportunity to thank all voters who took their time to exercise their right to vote. The Commission is indeed grateful as this is what we have always looked forward to,” he told reporters.
A total of 7,023,499 people were registered to vote, and estimates are that voter turnout this year was higher than the 56.45 percent recorded in the last elections in 2016.
Addressing the challenges facing the Zambian economy was the main rallying point for campaigns by both President Lungu and Hichilema.
They both expressed confidence that they will win the polls after polls closed on August 13.
Despite trailing in early results, PF party spokesperson, Antonio Mwanza said, “We know the President (Lungu) is winning these elections and the only thing we want to do is call upon all Zambians and our supporters to remain calm, to remain optimistic and to allow for the Electoral Commission of Zambia to do its job of announcing the official results.”
The ECZ has said the process of counting the votes is manual, exhorting patience as verification and counting continues. The Commission stressed that it was still on target to announce the winner 72 hours after the last polling station closed.
“The Commission is aware of the anxiety out in there in relation to the results. It is important for us to understand that counting of the votes is manual,” said ECZ Deputy Chairperson, Dr Emily Sikazwe.
“The Commission is saying to the nation, give us time, the results will be announced. You may think we are delaying deliberately for one reason or the other but we have no interest in who wins or not, what is important for the Commission is to carry out its mandate as per the Constitution.”
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been observing the election virtually and holding stakeholder consultations, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“SADC adopted a virtual approach of consultations with key electoral stakeholders in the furtherance of the consolidation of democracy in the region, in accordance with the revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections,” said President Mokwgeetsi Masisi of Botswana, who is the Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security.
The African Union (AU) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) are among the regional and international organisations that deployed observers for elections, as well as the Commonwealth and the European Union.
“COMESA observers reported a good turnout in most of the areas in their coverage, with the elections process largely peaceful and calm,” said the COMESA Secretariat, which is based in Zambia.
The AU, COMESA and the Commonwealth have said they will jointly issue their preliminary statements on the elections. sardc.net
