By Francis Maingaila
LUSAKA
With slightly more than half of the vote counted, Zambian Defense and Justice Minister Edgar Lungu continues to lead the country's presidential race, albeit by a narrow margin.
Official results released by Zambia's electoral commission for 80 out of the country's 150 constituencies gave Lungu, the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) candidate, 533,613 votes or some 50.85 percent.
His main rival, Hakainde Hichilema of the opposition United Party for National Development, won 474,076 votes or 45.18 percent.
Zambians went to the polls on Tuesday to elect a new president following the death late last year of President Michael Sata in London.
Eleven presidential hopefuls, including Lungu and Hichilema, contested the race.
The total number of voters in the 80 constituencies in which results have been released is 3,034,920.
Although 5,166,088 Zambians were eligible to vote, only 1,049,418 votes were cast, according to the commission.
Commission chairperson Ireen Mambilima said results were still being verified in the remaining 70 constituencies.
"We have had challenges in getting results from constituencies in these provinces due to bad weather," she told reporters.
"As soon as the results are received and verified, the commission will make them available to all stakeholders and other interest groups," added Mambilima.
She had earlier suspended the announcement of partial results until votes in all 150 constituencies could be counted.
According to official results released before her decision, Lungu had clinched 15 out of the 17 counted constituencies while Hichilema had won the remaining two.
Results released so far are mainly from ruling party strongholds in the Northern, Muchinga, Eastern, Luapula, and Lusaka provinces and the Central and Copperbelt provinces.
Other results received so far have come from parts of Zambia's Southern and Central provinces.
The commission is still awaiting results from the Western, North-Western and Southern provinces, where Hichilema enjoys broad support.
