SANF 15 no 4 – by Patson Phiri in Lusaka, Zambia
Ruling Patriotic Front candidate in Zambia’s presidential by-elections Edgar Lungu has taken an early lead against his closest rival Hakainde Hichilema of the main opposition United Party for National Development.
According to results from 80 constituencies verified and declared by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), Lungu, current Justice and Defence Minister, garnered 521,003 votes against 469,414 for Hichilema.
This translates to about 51 percent for Lungu and 46 percent for Hichilema, with more than half of the constituencies counted so far.
Nevers Mumba of the Movement for Multi-party Democracy was third with 7,869 votes, followed by Edith Nawakwi of the Forum for Democracy and Development – the only female candidate and former Finance Minister – who has so far garnered 7,449 votes.
Tilyenji Kaunda of the United National Independence Party, and son of Zambia’s first president Kenneth Kaunda got 4,893 votes, National Restoration Party candidate Elias Chipimo (3,297 votes), Eric Chanda of the Fourth Revolution Party (3,275 votes) and Godfrey Miyanda of Heritage Party (2,992 votes).
Christian Democratic Party leader Dan Pule has so far garnered 1,679 votes, followed by Ludwig Sondashi (955 votes) and Peter Sinkamba of Green Party (720 votes).
ECZ chairperson Justice Ireen Mambilima told a press conference in Lusaka that results from the remaining 70 constituencies are only expected late 23 January or early 24 January.
A total of 5,166,088 people have registered to vote in the landmark election, according to the ECZ.
The ECZ was forced to suspend the release of the results on 21 January following a complaint by Hichilema that the announcement of figures showing a leading contender would have influenced those who were still voting.
The complaint followed the decision by the ECZ to extend voting, initially set for 20 January, by an extra day due to the inaccessibility of some polling stations as a result of heavy rains that have caused floods in parts of the country.
Zambians were voting in the landmark election to choose a new leader following the death of President Michel Sata in October 2014.
At least 65 observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Election Observer Mission (SEOM) are observing the election together with other regional and international election observers.
Headed by the South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, the SEOM is expected to release a report on the conduct of the elections.
The expectations of the SEOM would be guided and measured mainly against provisions and requirements of the Zambia Constitution, as well as the SADC Treaty, the SADC Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation and the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has also deployed an observer mission is led by former Zimbabwean judge and cabinet minister, Ambassador Simbi Mubako.
Former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe is head of the AU election observer mission to Zambia
The winning candidate will become Zambia’s sixth president since the country got its independence from Britain on 24 October 1964.
The winning candidate will be in office until the next general elections scheduled for 2016. Zambia uses the first-past-the-post electoral system for presidential elections. sardc.net
