Observer Alleges Violence, Raids Marred August Election

International Observer Alleges Violence, Raided Command Centre, Fatal Shooting Tied To Poll An expert with an international election observers mission, Petteri Hakkanen, has produced a post-election analysis alleging that Zambia’s August 13 general election was marred by violence…

International Observer Alleges Violence, Raided Command Centre, Fatal Shooting Tied To Poll

An expert with an international election observers mission, Petteri Hakkanen, has produced a post-election analysis alleging that Zambia’s August 13 general election was marred by violence and irregularities, findings that reportedly prompted Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance leader Brian Mundubile to reject President Hakainde Hichilema’s declared victory and prepare a court challenge ahead of the constitutional deadline.

According to Hakkanen’s analysis, heavily armed plain-clothes men claiming to be police officers raided the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance’s media command centre in Ibex Hill, Lusaka, on the eve of polling day. Running mate Makebi Zulu said the men were searching for Parallel Voter Tabulation equipment and fired live ammunition at campaign staff during the raid. Alliance media director Brian Matambo confirmed that shots were fired during the incident.

Hakkanen pointedly noted that conducting a Parallel Vote Tabulation is not illegal under Zambian law, raising the question of what the government sought to prevent by targeting the equipment. He described the overall election as having taken place in a constrained democratic space, citing incumbency advantages and heavily biased state media coverage favouring the ruling party among his key concerns.

The analysis also flagged the timing of major electoral reforms, which Hakkanen said were adopted only three months before the polls, creating legal uncertainty in the run-up to voting. He further recorded intimidation of opposition figures and candidate withdrawals made under pressure during the campaign period.

Hakkanen said the Electoral Commission of Zambia suspended vote counting for about six hours on August 14 following reports of violence against polling staff and alleged theft of ballot papers. That suspension, he said, prevented observers from monitoring the counting process and caused significant uncertainty and anxiety among stakeholders. He noted that verification of electronically entered figures against paper tally sheets dropped sharply, from 100 percent to 81 percent, after counting resumed.

The most serious allegation in the analysis concerns events on the same day counting was suspended. Hakkanen said security forces raided a property linked to Mundubile in Kabulonga, Lusaka, an operation the government said targeted a suspected militia and led to the arrest of 11 opposition-linked individuals after weapons were reportedly recovered. That operation, according to Hakkanen, resulted in the fatal shooting of former cabinet minister Mutotwe Kafwaya, whose death was only publicly announced six days later, following sustained public pressure.

Hakkanen said authorities initially gave conflicting accounts of events before ultimately confirming Kafwaya’s death. Amnesty International has since called for a prompt, thorough and independent investigation into the circumstances. Those subsequently charged with treason-related offences connected to the incident include Bishop Trevor Mwamba and George Chisanga. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has separately urged authorities to stop arresting people arbitrarily and to fully uphold the due process rights of all those detained.

The allegations contained in Hakkanen’s analysis sit in tension with an independent parallel vote tabulation conducted by a coalition of Zambian civil society organisations, which broadly affirmed the overall presidential result while noting a roughly three-percentage-point gap from the official figures. Whether Hakkanen’s more serious allegations of violence and procedural irregularity gain further traction may depend heavily on the outcome of the constitutional petition process and any independent investigation into Kafwaya’s death.