1st LD Writethru: Zambian leader says will of people should prevail

Zambian President Edgar Lungu on Sunday said the will of the people should be allowed to prevail following the general elections held on August 11 as the country continues to wait for final results of the presidential election.

The Zambian leader said he will accept any final results that will be released by the Electoral Commission of Zambia, according to state broadcaster, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation.

The Zambian leader, who was speaking at a church service in Lusaka, the country's capital, said the will of God must prevail because God speaks through people and called on people to hold their emotions.

Final presidential results are still being awaited. Results from 69 out of 156 constituencies announced by the electoral body show that Lungu is on the lead with 699,960 votes while main opposition challenger Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development has 644,132 votes.

The opposition leader has accused the electoral body of deliberately holding on to the results because it wanted to manipulate them in favor of Lungu.

However, Zambia's ruling party on Sunday also accused the main opposition leader of delaying the result announcement process because of its continuous interruption to the electoral body.

"At every turn of events, they are questioning the results when their candidate gets less votes but when they are leading, they are not questioning. It is only when he is losing that they are questioning the process and delaying the results," Davies Chama, secretary-general of the ruling Patriotic Front told reporters at the National Results Totaling Center.

Frank Bwalya, the ruling party deputy spokesperson also said accusations by the opposition that the ruling party has stolen the vote were not true and should be dismissed.

Nine candidates participated in the presidential election. Endit