Opposition party to challenge Lungu’s re-election in court

Zambia’s main opposition party will file a court petition against President Edgar Lungu’s re-election to the helm of Africa’s second-largest copper producer on Thursday, its vice president said on Wednesday. The United Party for National Development says some electoral officials colluded with the ruling Patriotic Front to rig the vote, handing victory to Lungu over […]

Zambia’s main opposition party will file a court petition against President Edgar Lungu’s re-election to the helm of Africa’s second-largest copper producer on Thursday, its vice president said on Wednesday.
The United Party for National Development says some electoral officials colluded with the ruling Patriotic Front to rig the vote, handing victory to Lungu over rival and main opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema. Both sides deny the charge.
“We have been robbed of this election, that is a fact and it shall be proved after 14 days,” the party’s vice president, Geoffrey Mwamba, told a news conference in the southern African nation’s capital.
“We have enough evidence to secure us a judgment which has so much being awaited by the Zambian people,” Mwamba said.
The inauguration of the president had initially been set for Aug. 23, but a law introduced in January says the winning candidate cannot be sworn in if the vote is contested in the Constitutional Court, which has two weeks to decide on such a petition.