Zambian opposition on Sunday called on incumbent President Edgar Lungu to concede defeat, as the first results of the presidential election give a clear lead to his long-time opponent, Hakainde Hichilema.
Representing an alliance of ten opposition parties with Hichilema’s UPND Charles Melupi asked Lungu to act as a statesman, by conceding quickly to Hakainde Hichilema, so that the process of handing over power and reconciliation of this country can begin
On Saturday evening, the electoral commission had announced the results of 62 constituencies, out of a total of 156, or about 40%, giving 1,024,212 votes to Hichilema against 526,523 for Mr. Lungu.
Both the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) party and main opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) claim their respective candidates are in the lead, citing their own tabulations.
Some analysts have expressed concern that Lungu might not accept anything other than victory.
On Saturday evening, the presidency announced that the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) was considering possible appeals in three provinces traditionally favored by the opposition, saying that the votes in those given regions had been “characterized by violence”, making the exercise “null and void”.
Melupi said the accusations were “unfounded”, saying that if there had been tension in some polling stations, it was rather because “ordinary citizens had reacted against the PF officials who were trying to act in an unfounded way.”
At the press briefing, he called on the electoral commission to speed up the announcement of the results, which may still take until Monday morning.
Referring to the piecemeal nature of these results announcements, he recalled that “in the past, this has given the opportunity to those who want to manipulate the results to do so, as in 2016” during the previous election, which Hichilema lost by just over 100,000 votes to Mr. Lungu.
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