Africa-Press – Zambia. Zambia went to the polls on this day – with fears growing that political meddling in the process could push our long-treasured democracy towards a “tipping point”.
Zambia, considered a model of democracy for its neighbours, the 12th August vote was accompanied by a military deployment, while the run-up to the election was marred by political violence and restrictions on opposition campaigning, analysts and human rights monitors shared this views.
Hakainde Hichilema, the then leader of the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) and now Republican President, said a day before the polls that his party had been barred from campaigning in the key Copperbelt province for the second time that week.
Last years vote came at a time when Zambians were angry at the state of the economy, with high unemployment and the country defaulting on its debt in 2020, while Edgar Lungu’s rule over the past five years that year had been seen as increasingly authoritarian. He had deployed the military to parts of Lusaka, earlier that month after two of his party cadres were killed in clashes with the opposition.
Critics were concerned the military presence would intimidate voters, but the government said the steps were taken to avoid violence. In June 2021, Amnesty International warned a “brutal crackdown” on opposing voices under President Edgar Lungu was setting the tone for the election. The organisation’s Zambia researcher, Vongai Chikwanda, that time said that trend had continued ahead of the 12th August 2021, with concerns over lack of freedom of expression, limits on gatherings and political violence.
On 16 August, 2021 Hakainde Hichilema was declared president-elect of Zambia with a landslide victory of 2,810,777 votes against Edgar Lungu’s 1,814,201.
At the time of the announcement, 155 out of Zambia’s 156 constituencies had been counted, with only Mandevu constituency still to declare. As the votes in that constituency were insufficient to affect the outcome, the electoral commission announced Hichilema’s victory. Edgar Lungu conceded defeat shortly after the announcement
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