Zambia opposition cries foul as Lungu wins presidential election

Zambia's ruling party candidate, Edgar Lungu, won the presidential election on Saturday with 48.3 per cent of the vote, the Electoral Commission of Zambia said.

Mr Lungu narrowly defeated his closest rival, Hakainde Hichilema, in the contest to succeed Michael Sata, who died in office in October aged 77.

Mr Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND) won 46.67 per cent of the vote.

Mr Lungu's victory was greeted with cheers and dancing after the chairwoman of the Electoral Commission of Zambia Ireen Mambilima, announced the results of the Tuesday vote which Mr Hichilema had earlier denounced as a sham.

“If Edgar Lungu is sworn in as president he will certainly be an illegitimate president going by what we have discovered at the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ),” Mr Hichilema, a millionaire cattle-rancher, told a press conference in the capital Lusaka on Saturday afternoon.