Zambia’s main opposition leader, Hakainde Hichilema, took an early lead over President Edgar Lungu on Saturday in a tight election battle as the key copper producer’s economy stutters due to weak commodity prices.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) delayed announcing the first results on Friday, saying audits were taking longer than expected mainly due to a large voter turnout.
It denied charges by Hichilema’s United Party for National Development (UPND) that it was dragging its feet in order to manipulate the results in favour of Lungu’s Patriotic Front (PF).
Reuters reported that data from eight of Zambia’s 156 constituencies showed businessman Hichilema in the lead with 47,706 votes after Thursday’s election, against 41,572 for Lungu.
Voter turnout currently stood at 57.55 percent, far above the 32 percent recorded early last year when Lungu narrowly won an election to fill the vacancy left by the death of then president Michael Sata.