Lungu Claims Election Not Fair Despite Observer Reports

President Edgar Lungu is asserting that Thursday’s general elections were not free and fair because of alleged violence in three provinces, despite multiple reports by election observers that the polls were carried out properly. 

In a release from State House, the president claims that the elections in Southern, North Western and Western provinces were “characterised by violence” and as such the entire election should be considered “a nullity”.

The president further alleged that Patriotic Front polling agents had been “brutalised” and chased from polling stations, leaving the ruling party’s vote unprotected in the three provinces. 

The PF says it has written to the Electoral Commission of Zambia to stop announcing results but they have continued regardless. President Lungu says his party is therefore “consulting” what their next move will be. 

The complaint comes despite multiple credible reports that the elections were largely peaceful and conducted in a proper manner. On Friday, the Christian Churches Monitoring Group said that while acts of violence did occur on polling day, these events were minimal and affected less than 2% of polling stations.

The group also contradicted President Lungu’s claim that PF agents were driven away from polling stations, reporting that 99% of stations had party agents from both the PF and the opposition United Party for National Development. 

Former Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma, who led the African Union’s observation mission, also said the elections ran smoothly and praised Zambians for their patience and decorum. 

“Personally, I have been impressed with what I have seen so far,” he told Voice of America. 

President Lungu’s statement comes as his chances for re-election continue to dwindle. The latest figures published by the ECZ showed that UPND candidate Hakainde Hichilema is on track for a convincing victory, having secured 59.81% of the vote after from the 31 constituencies so far reported. 

This makes the president’s complaint look less like a genuine concern and more like a last ditch attempt to cling on to power. On election day, politics lecturer Dr Nicole Beardsworth tweeted that Lungu’s “banging the drums” on isolated incidents of violence would likely be used to “invalidate pro-opposition” results - a prediction that has sadly since come true.