Hichilema extends lead to 243,509 votes in 27 constituencies

President Hakainde Hichilema has extended his early lead in Zambia’s presidential election, polling 243,509 votes across 27 of the country’s 226 constituencies, as the incumbent seeks a second term governing the copper-rich southern African nation. His closest rival, National…

President Hakainde Hichilema has extended his early lead in Zambia’s presidential election, polling 243,509 votes across 27 of the country’s 226 constituencies, as the incumbent seeks a second term governing the copper-rich southern African nation.

His closest rival, National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity candidate Brian Mundubile, has secured 161,883 votes in the same batch of declared results, the Electoral Commission of Zambia announced. Voter turnout stood at around 56 percent, a marked decline from roughly 70 percent recorded in the 2021 general election.

The 27 declared constituencies represent still a small fraction of the national count, and the results show sharply divergent regional patterns. In Dundumwezi constituency, Kalomo District in Southern Province, Hichilema polled 22,043 votes against Mundubile’s 46. He also led comfortably in Kalomo South, with 23,802 votes to Mundubile’s 83, and in Magoye East in Mazabuka District, with 19,738 votes to 148.

Mundubile found stronger ground elsewhere. In Nyimba North constituency, Eastern Province, he polled 8,475 votes against Hichilema’s 2,885, and in Luongo constituency, Kawambwa District, he led 6,349 to 3,536. The two candidates ran close in Saise constituency, Mbala District, where Mundubile edged ahead with 5,793 votes to Hichilema’s 4,921.

The lopsided margins in some Southern Province constituencies echo the pattern of Hichilema’s political base, while Mundubile’s stronger showings in parts of Eastern, Luapula and Northern provinces point to a genuinely contested national picture once the remaining 199 constituencies are declared.

The count has proceeded against a backdrop of unverified claims that briefly cast serious doubt over the safety of senior opposition figures. Reports alleging that NRPUP member of parliament Mutotwe Kafwaya had been shot and hospitalised, and that Patrick Mwansa, husband of former president Edgar Lungu’s daughter Tasila Lungu, had been detained or killed following an alleged military operation at Mundubile’s residence, circulated widely on social media and among opposition supporters.

Information and Media Permanent Secretary Thabo Kawana dismissed both claims as false.

“Kafwaya not hospitalised, Patrick Mwansa not dead,” Kawana said, rejecting reports that Kafwaya had been admitted to Maina Soko Medical Centre with gunshot wounds or that Mwansa had been detained or killed.

Kawana accused senior Tonse Alliance figures of making deliberately alarming and contradictory statements intended to provoke unrest ahead of the results announcement.

“Mundubile is saying one thing and Makebi Zulu is saying something. The statements they are making are deliberately meant to alarm the nation so that their people can be agitated and take to the streets to create a chaotic situation,” Kawana said, adding that the conflicting claims risked disrupting the announcement of results at a point when the outcome remains undecided.

The government’s denial has not fully settled the matter. Tasila Lungu has separately issued a public appeal over her husband’s whereabouts, saying his phones went offline following the alleged Friday night operation at Mundubile’s residence. Unconfirmed information reported elsewhere suggests Mwansa may since have been located and held at Lusaka Central Police Station, though this has not been officially confirmed by police.

Mundubile, for his part, has urged Tonse Alliance candidates and members to ensure that all Gen 20 forms, the official results documents completed at polling stations, are collected and submitted from their respective areas, a call consistent with his party’s continued reliance on its own parallel voter tabulation as it presses its claim to the presidency.

The Electoral Commission has continued to caution all candidates against declaring themselves winners before an official announcement, reiterating that only the Commission holds the legal authority to declare a result. With just 27 of 226 constituencies declared, both camps remain some distance from the certainty either has claimed publicly, and the Commission’s revised schedule points to further results being announced through the day as verification continues.