Early results Saturday in Zambia’s presidential election showed opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema leading, according to the electoral commission.
Results from 31 of Zambia’s 156 precincts showed Hichilema leading President Edgar Lungu in the vote count, 449,699 to 266,202. The commission said it planned to announce final results by Monday.
In a statement Saturday, Lungu said Thursday’s presidential and parliamentary elections were "not free and fair." He said polling agents were attacked and chased from polling stations in several provinces, “rendering the whole exercise a nullity.”
Lungu, who ordered troops to help suppress the violence after a party chairman and another man were killed in North-Western province, said his Patriotic Front party was contemplating its next course of action.
Lungu, 64, has been president since 2015. Hichilema is a businessman who has criticized Lungu's management of the country’s battered economy.
Zambia recently defaulted on $12 billion in debt it owes to creditors, raising concerns among citizens and investors.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
