The acting president of Zambia, the liberal Hakainde Hichilema, has taken the lead this Saturday in the count of the presidential elections, after the resumption of the scrutiny that the Electoral Commission had temporarily interrupted last Friday due to several episodes of "violence" in the country.
According to the data released by the Electoral Commission of Zambia, Hichilema has 243,509 ballots in 27 of the 226 constituencies of the national territory. His main competitor, the opposition leader Brian Mundubile, remains 80,000 votes behind the current president, as the agency has specified. The turnout is around 56%, below the 70% recorded in the previous general elections.
This advance in the count occurs after the reactivation of the electoral process, following the Electoral Commission of Zambia's decree on Friday to suspend the vote counting of the elections for at least 24 hours due to incidents of "violence" in various areas of the country.
The electoral body "took note" of these events in certain districts, directed, according to the institution, "against the electoral staff," which resulted in "the theft of marked ballots from the ballot boxes."
Hichilema, the architect of a debt restructuring plan that has received praise from investors, aims to renew his mandate for another five years, supported by record copper production on the African continent and the appreciation of the local currency. In this context, he has promised to maintain the reform agenda aimed at benefiting businesses if he is re-elected.
Meanwhile, Mundubile has structured his campaign around improving the country's macroeconomic indicators and reducing the high cost of living as central priorities.
The winner of the presidential elections, whose resolution is expected next Thursday, must achieve more than 50% of the valid votes cast to declare himself the winner.