Zambian leader pledges to deliver development

Zambia's incumbent President Edgar Lungu, who has been reelected, promised Tuesday that he will endeavor to deliver development during his next five-year term in office.

During a national thanksgiving and unity rally held at the Woodlands Stadium in Lusaka, capital of the African country, Lungu thanked the voters for entrusting him with another five years in office, saying he will not let them down.

"The purpose of calling for this meeting was to thank you fellow Zambians, through the Lusaka people, that you did a good thing to elect us," he told hundreds of people who had gathered at the stadium, promising he would deliver on what he had promised.

Lungu urged leaders in his Patriotic Front party and those who will be chosen in his cabinet to brace themselves for hard work, adding that development will spread to all parts of the country, even in provinces where he got poor results.

"The Zambian people are expecting a lot from us because we have given them only slight development in the last five years ... I promise that in the next five years it will be total work for all of us," he said.

Meanwhile, Lungu urged leaders of the other political parties to call on their supporters to be calm and not to vent their frustration by rioting.

According to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) on Monday, Lungu got 1,860,877 votes, or 50.35 percent, while his main opponent, Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND), got 1,760,347 votes in the presidential election on Aug. 11.

Riots erupted in some parts of the country after Lungu was declared the winner and opposition supporters destroyed properties. Police said over 50 opposition supporters were arrested in southern Zambia.

The UPND said on Monday that it will petition the results of the presidential election, citing fraud and malpractices.

Lungu said that he will wait for the courts' decision on the matter, saying it was the opposition's democratic right to go to court. Endi