Early constituency-level declarations and reports from Zambia’s August 13 general election are pointing to major changes in the composition of the National Assembly, with the NRPUP recording a string of reported parliamentary victories, particularly on the Copperbelt, while several prominent incumbents have reportedly lost their seats.
The emerging results have also seen several former Members of Parliament returning to Manda Hill, among them Dr Chishimba Kambwili, Alexander Chiteme, Frank Ng’ambi and Jean Kapata, according to constituency-level reports circulating following Thursday’s vote.
However, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) remains the official authority for election results. Many of the parliamentary victories being announced or reported from constituency tallying centres are yet to be reflected on the Commission’s central results platform today Friday.
ECZ Chief Executive Officer Brown Kasaro has assured the country that the Commission is committed to the timely transmission and release of results within the agreed 72-hour period. He explained that results reaching the Commission have to be supported by prescribed documents used in the results management system.
Kasaro said where discrepancies are detected in documents transmitted from constituencies, the Commission will send them back for verification before incorporating the figures into its official results. This means some constituency results may already be publicly known locally while the ECZ national platform is yet to display them.
NRPUP makes major Copperbelt gains
Some of the clearest reported NRPUP gains are emerging from the Copperbelt, where the party has picked up a number of parliamentary constituencies and returned several former MPs to Parliament.
