Power vacuum in Zambia after poll standoff

CONTESTED: Edgar Lungu ZAMBIA’S opposition party has challenged the results of the elections 10 days ago, delaying the inauguration of presidentelect Edgar Lungu and provoking questions about who should run Africa’s second-largest copper producer for now.

“The electoral commission failed to run a credible election,” said Jack Mwiimbu, a lawyer for the United Party for National Development. “We are saying that the president-elect was not duly elected.”

Lungu won 50.4% against UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema’s 47.6%, enough to avoid a run-off, the Electoral Commission of Zambia said. Hichilema accused Lungu’s Patriotic Front of colluding with the commission to manipulate the results, a claim they both denied.

The petition deepened political uncertainty in one of the continent’s most stable democracies after an election campaign tainted by violence and intimidation. It provoked a dispute over whether the constitution provides for the speaker of parliament to serve as acting president until the court issues a decision.

Zambia’s constitution allows seven days for an election petition to be filed with the Constitutional Court, which then has 14 days to consider the matter. The law does not give a deadline for a final decision.

Parliamentary speaker Patrick Matibini should take over the executive functions of government until the court makes a ruling, said Eddie Mwitwa, vicepresident at the Law Association of Zambia.

But Lungu’s spokesman, Amos Chanda, said there was no provision for the parliamentary speaker to serve as acting president in the current situation. “There is no power transfer to the speaker,” Chanda said. “The constitution does not provide for that.”

Lungu won elections last year to replace Michael Sata, who died in office, gaining fewer than 28 000 votes more than Hichilema, who called that election “cooked”. — Bloomberg

We are saying that the president-elect was not duly elected