Zambia extends polling hours amid large voter turnout

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.

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.

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.