UPND concerns delay election results release

Concerns raised by the United Party for National Development (UPND) over what it has described as contradictory results published by the Electoral Commission of Zambia on their website and ZNBC have delayed the announcement of results from remaining constituencies.

The ECZ was scheduled to announce latest election results by 11:00 hours in addition to the ones released last night which still have PF’s Edgar Lungu narrowly leading his closest rival UPND’s Hakainde Hichilema with about 29,054 votes from 111 constituencies verified.

ECZ officials led by Chairperson Irene Mambilima were locked in a meeting in the morning with officials from the UPND led by its leader Hakainde Hichilema and the Patriotic Front led by Secretary General Davis Chama over the concerns raised by the UPND.

The United Party for National Development (UPND) this morning sought an urgent meeting with the Electoral Commission of Zambia seeking clarification on what it has described as contradictory results published by the Commission on their official website and ZNBC TV.

UPND Campaign Manager Dipak Patel in a statement saID not only have there been significant miscalculations in the counting process with the wrong numbers attributed to the wrong constituencies, some published numbers are allegedly highly inflated and clear failure to calculate basic arithmetic.

Mr Patel said these incorrect figures have also now been published by the print media which is highly illegal.

Mr Patel stated that UPND results are increasingly clear and continue to indicate a narrow victory for the UPND President Hakainde Hichilema.

He said the UPND requires full clarity and agreement on all final ECZ results before any announcement is made by the ECZ.

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