Embattled Zambian president Edgar Lungu – trailing his main opponent, businessman Hakainde ‘HH’ Hichilema, in early results – has described Thursday’s elections as ‘not free and fair’.
While Lungu, who is seeking a second term, said that violence in provinces where he lost votes had rendered ‘the whole exercise a nullity’, and claimed that election officials from his Patriotic Front party had been chased from polling stations, leaving votes unprotected, Hichilema said the president’s statement was the ‘desperate final act of an outgoing administration’.
According to the BBC, Zambia’s electoral commission has yet to respond.
European Union election observers said in a preliminary report that the vote was ‘marred by unequal campaign restrictions, restrictions on freedoms of assembly and movement, and abuse of incumbency’.
Social media and internet access was also shut down on Thursday. On Friday the High Court in Lusaka ruled that access to the internet should be fully restored.
The results of the election were initially expected on Friday, but the announcement was postponed after some party election officials criticised the commission for trying to declare results that hadn’t yet been verified.