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The opposition candidate won 171,604 votes against the 110,178 obtained by the incumbent Edgar Lungu.
Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema quickly took the lead in the country’s presidential election over incumbent President Edgar Lungu, according to the election commission’s initial results on Saturday.
Hichilema collected 171,604 votes against the 110,178 collected by Lungu in the results for 15 of the 156 constituencies of the southern African nation.
These 15 constituencies include perceived strongholds of Lungu, suggesting that Hichilema has gained ground since the last election in 2016, when he lost by a narrow margin in a disputed vote marred by allegations of Lungu rigging. .
A total of 296,210 votes were cast in these constituencies, representing a turnout of 71.75 percent, Chief Electoral Officer Patrick Nshindano said at a press conference in the capital, Lusaka.
The first results, initially expected on Friday, were delayed after the overnight count due to huge voter turnout and because political parties objected to the electoral commission’s initial figures in one constituency, which differed from those observers in the field.
Zambia’s Election Commission allowed the last polling station to remain open until 5 a.m. (03:00 GMT) on Friday to give people who have stood in line for hours a chance to vote amid access restrictions Internet and violence in three regions.
In Chawama Township in Lusaka, Lungu’s parliamentary constituency before he became president, residents said supporters of Lungu and Hichilema both claimed victory and celebrated the night away.
The ruling Lungu Patriotic Front (PF) party said its vote count showed strong participation in its strongholds and that it was confident in victory. Hichilema is a candidate for the United Party for National Development.
Access to social media was largely restored in Zambia on Saturday.
Al Jazeera’s Haru Matasa, in a report from the capital Lusaka, said the vote “is still too close to be called”.
“It seems so far that opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema is in the lead,” Mutasa said.
“But like in many African elections, urban results are usually announced first, and in urban areas, this is where the opposition has its strongholds. When rural results start to arrive, that’s when things sometimes seem to change. So in a few hours and maybe a day or so we will have a clearer indication of what is really going on.
“A huge referendum”
Lungu – who deployed the army following pre-election clashes – bolstered the army’s presence in three provinces after two deaths were reported on election day, including a PF chairman.
An estimated seven million people registered to vote in the presidential and parliamentary elections which saw leading candidate Hichilema, a successful businessman, challenge Lungu’s attempt to win a second five-year term.
Hichilema, who is running for the sixth time, was supported by an alliance of 10 parties.
Nevers Mumba, another presidential candidate who heads the opposition Movement for Multiparty Democracy, said on Friday that the vote was “a huge referendum against the Patriotic Front and its failure to lead the nation.” Mumba admitted his defeat.
Investors are closely watching the outcome of Thursday’s election: the country is heavily in debt and suffered the continent’s first sovereign default in the pandemic era in November.
Support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), already widely accepted, is suspended until after the vote. Debt restructuring is also seen as a first test of a new global plan to ease the burden on poor countries.
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