The Electoral Commission restarted counting after violence and ballot theft; early official results put Hichilema ahead, while Mundubile claimed victory from a parallel tally. Allegations of interference were not independently verified.
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The first official picture
The second batch of presidential results from Zambia's Electoral Commission provides an early official picture of the count. Of 226 constituencies, 27 had completed transmission and verification; President Hakainde Hichilema had 243,509 votes and challenger Brian Mundubile had 161,883. The commission said those figures had been consolidated from constituencies that completed transmission and confirmation under the Electoral Process Act. It announced them at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in the presence of party agents, SADC observers and the media. With 199 constituencies still to be tallied, the commission asked the public to rely only on official announcements; a final declaration is expected by 17 August. The released total offers the first measurable indication of the contest's direction, but most of the country has yet to enter that picture. Hichilema's lead therefore cannot be treated as a completed result. The constituency-by-constituency verification and the presence of party representatives make the traceability of transmission, rather than speed alone, the central feature of the official process.[1]
A victory claim from a parallel tally
Before the official count was complete, Mundubile said his party's parallel tabulation from polling stations and totalling centres across the country showed that he had won the presidency. Hichilema said his side continued to receive encouraging results and urged the public to remain calm until the official declaration. Their statements fill the same waiting period in different ways: Mundubile declares an outcome, while the incumbent president points toward the commission's announcement. Mundubile also argued that delays in publishing and verifying results could create room for interference. He alleged that military personnel had taken control of some totalling centres in Mufulira, Gen 20 result forms had been removed, incidents involving ballot boxes had occurred in Chawama and Matero, and officials in North-Western Province had been told to stop issuing results. None of those allegations has been independently verified. The opposition leader asked the commission to publish polling-station and constituency-level results and preserve the chain of custody for ballot boxes; he also urged his supporters to avoid violence.[2]
A process restarted after violence
Pressure on the count's credibility comes from more than the candidates' competing statements. The Electoral Commission halted the process after attacks on polling staff and the theft of marked ballot papers; counting resumed late on Friday after chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis said the security threat had been contained and safeguards were in place. In a country of roughly 22 million people, about 8 million voters were registered at more than 13,500 polling stations, and European Union observers monitored the ballot. In an election of that scale, if updates are neither transparent nor regular, the interval between early totals and the final declaration may give political claims room to spread. Meanwhile, the country is waiting for the commission to verify and announce the next constituency results. The official figures available put Hichilema ahead; Mundubile's victory declaration rests on a separate party tally, and his interference allegations have not been independently verified. Acceptance of the count after violence and ballot theft will depend on the commission verifying the remaining constituencies, publishing detailed results and demonstrating the chain of custody for ballots. The final declaration expected by 17 August will therefore settle both the political contest and an important test of confidence in a disrupted electoral process.[3], [1], [2]
