Zambia election credibility likely ‘compromised’, expert warns – SABC News – Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa’s news leader.

Experts have warned that electoral challenges in Zambia are likely to severely compromise the credibility of the country’s democratic process.

Reports of violence against electoral officials and the theft of ballot papers prompted the Electoral Commission of Zambia to suspend counting votes in the presidential and parliamentary elections.

The first results are expected later on Saturday, with the final outcome due to be announced on Monday.

“The suspension of counting poses a serious threat to the credibility of the polls because even the manner in which the suspension occurred there was very little information available on the magnitude of violence and necessitated that suspension,” says governance and election expert from the University of Pretoria, Tendai Mbanje.

[LISTEN] University of Pretoria governance and elections expert Tendai Mbanje says Zambia’s Electoral Commission’s lack of clarity over missing ballots could provide grounds for an electoral dispute.
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Reports coming from Zambia say there were pockets of violence in few places across the country, but that was not tantamount to halting the entire process of counting.

“So it does threaten credibility especially because the circumstance surrounding these elections they are highly tense and occurring at a time when Zambians are struggling economically,” says Mbanje.  -Reporting by Ntombi Sithubi