Hakainde Hichilema has been re-elected as Zambia’s president for a second term following an election marred by allegations of vote-rigging and fraud. The country’s Electoral Commission officially announced the results early Tuesday (August 18).

According to the commission, incumbent President Hichilema won nearly 60 percent of the total valid votes. His main rival, Brian Mundubile, secured 38 percent.

This was Hichilema’s seventh presidential election. As the incumbent, he was widely expected to have an advantage, while the election was Mundubile’s first presidential contest.

The situation remained relatively calm until voting began on August 13, but tensions escalated on election day.

On election night, security forces reportedly carried out an operation involving gunfire in the presence of Mundubile and arrested 11 people, including several senior opposition leaders.

The following day, reports of attacks on election officials and the theft of ballot papers at polling stations forced the Electoral Commission to suspend vote counting for several hours.

Opposition leader Brian Mundubile alleged that result documents issued by polling stations had been falsified or altered. He called for a swift, independent and impartial investigation into the allegations.

Hichilema’s camp, however, rejected the allegations as false.

Source: Al Jazeera