Off the wire
• Peru's southern region of Arequipa hit by 5.2-magnitude earthquake  • UNICEF calls for urgent action to help over 100,000 children trapped in war-torn Aleppo  • Results of water polo women at Rio Olympics  • U.S. dollar rises against other major currencies  • Morocco triples trade with U.S. to 2.5 billion USD in decade  • Zambia opposition petitions presidential election results  • Morocco joins hands with UAE to fight climate change  • Result of water polo women's gold medal match at Rio Olympics  • Results of women's boxing women's light (57-60kg) at Rio Olympics  • Result of boxing women's light (57-60kg) final bout at Rio Olympics  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD Writethru: Zambia opposition petitions presidential election results

Xinhua, August 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

Zambia's main opposition party on Friday successfully filed a petition challenging the results of the presidential election held last Thursday.

The United Party for National Development (UPND) legal team filed the petition on Friday afternoon at the Supreme Court.

The petition stated that there is need for a recount of the total votes cast across the country due to "numerous irregularities" that were gathered before, during and after the elections.

The court will now have 14 days to hear and determine the matter.

Also on Friday, police said that former Lusaka Province minister Obvious Mwaliteta, who resigned in President Lungu's government in March this year, was among five members of the main opposition that have been arrested for allegedly intercepting election results forms.

Kakoma Kanganja, Inspector-General of the Zambia Police said the five have since been charged with aggravated robbery and appeared in court.

The main opposition party has disputed the outcome of last Thursday's election, alleging fraud and malpractice. Riots broke out in opposition strongholds on Monday and Tuesday after Lungu was declared winner. About 300 opposition supporters have since been arrested for post-election related violence.

Lungu was declared winner of the tightly contested August 11 polls after getting 1.8 million votes while main opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema got 1.7 million votes. Endit