Zambia deploys police as opposition supporters riot over poll loss

Police have been deployed to the southern part of Zambia following reports of riots by supporters of the main opposition United Party for National Development (UPND).

The UPND led by Hakainde Hichilema who polled 47.67% of the votes had served notice that their candidate was going to appeal the results of the poll.

In a statement posted on his facebook page, Hichilema, enumerated five reasons why there was the need to recount the votes in the capital Lusaka.

Among others, the withholding of official results from members of the UPND, intimidation of their polling agents, unusual voting figures where the number of votes exceeded the number of registered voters and cases of missing results that were retrieved from a bin.

The party’s lawyer Jack Mwiimbu told journalists that the ruling party and the electoral body had colluded to rig the elections. ‘‘We have evidence to the effect that votes for Hakainde Hichilema have been deliberately reduced in collusion with the Electoral Commission of Zambia,’‘ he said.

He added that the party was confident that the constitutional court would ‘‘rise above board and declare the results a nullity.’‘