LUSAKA, Zambia
Voting in Zambia went beyond the stated 6 p.m. deadline Thursday due to a huge turnout in an election where President Edgar Lungu faces stiff competition.
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| Zambia’s main opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema casts his vote in capital Lusaka on August 12, 2021. |
Polling stations in several regions, including the
capital Lusaka, decided to stay open until the last person in the queue could
cast their ballot.
The general atmosphere was largely calm and peaceful
except for reports of the murder of a ruling Patriotic Front (PF) official in
North-Western province near the border with Angola by suspected opposition United
Party for National Development (UPND) cadres.
Jackson Kungo was reportedly beaten and died on his
way to the hospital.
A brother of provincial Deputy Permanent Secretary
Emmanuel Chihili was also killed.
Reports from Chilanga, a district 23 kilometers (14 miles) from the capital, Lusaka, said two people were shot and a house razed.
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| Mobs of voters have killed PF Northwestern province Chairperson Jackson Kungo |
Lungu directed Army Commander William Sikazwe to
reinforce troops in the North-Western, Western and Southern provinces where
members of the opposition were reportedly orchestrating post-election violence.
The president said he was dismayed by the amount of
mayhem in the provinces which rendered the elections not free and fair.
"How can you talk about free and fair elections
when our opponents have taken this election as war?” he said in a statement
late Thursday.
He said the troops should make sure that they do not
leave any stone unturned in ensuring that peace returns to the rest of the
country.
"It is of course clear that these two Zambians
have been killed in cold-blood by UPND members,” said Lungu as he consoled
their grieving families.
He added that the job to arrest the killers lies with
security officers and his supporters should be calm and not retaliate as some
suspects had already been apprehended.
The head of the African Union observer mission to
Zambia and former Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma said the mission was
encouraged with the high turnout of voters at monitored polling stations
nationwide.
Koroma told reporters that it presented an indication
of a peaceful and transparent outcome to the elections which should be accepted
by all participants.
Former President Rupiah Banda also cast his vote and urged Zambians to maintain a peaceful atmosphere even when the results are announced.
Lungu cast his vote in Chawama township in Lusaka,
where he is a former member of parliament. His former seat is being contested
by his daughter.
His rival, Hakainde Hichilema, also voted in Lusaka.
The other 14 candidates for the presidency also cast
their ballots at various locations around the country.
An acting spokesman of the UPND Alliance, Thabo
Kawana, told reporters later that his party was not responsible for the
gruesome killings.
He extended his condolences to the bereaved and urged
police to further investigate the matter because reports from party informers
on the ground indicated that Kungo and the brother of provincial Deputy
Permanent Secretary Chihili could have been killed by fellow PF supporters.
Kawana also charged that the alliance had won the
elections based on the voter turnout, which he argued was last witnessed three
decades ago, when the country voted against one-party rule.
He also accused government officials of tampering
with the smooth running of internet service to deprive voters of timely updates
on the polls.
By 10 p.m. local time, some parts of the country had
reported the commencement of vote tallying, while some were still reporting
people casting ballots.
Kawana added that the alliance expected electoral authorities to respect the will of the people by not “tampering” with votes.
The security situation remained calm late night in
Lusaka, albeit fresh reports that a former Lusaka mayor and ruling party
parliamentarian for Matero constituency, Miles Sampa, had been stabbed in his
waist and his bodyguard hacked in the head. Sampa was reportedly being treated
at a local hospital.
Esther Katongo, a Zambian police spokeswoman,
confirmed the stabbing without giving further details on the suspects as
investigations were only being launched.
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