The African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) Saturday said despite reports of an unleveled playing field, pre poll violence and Covid-19 related challenges Zambia’s seventh general elections were conducted in a peaceful, transparent and professional manner.
The AUEOM deployed 30 observers in seven of the ten provinces across the country where they observed opening, voting, closing and counting procedures.
The Mission visited a total of 249 polling stations of which 73 percent (181) were in urban and 27 percent (67) in rural areas.
The Mission calls on all stakeholders to remain peaceful and calm while awaiting the announcement of the final results by the Electoral Commission of Zambia.
The Mission urges all political leaders and their supporters to not undertake any action that will undermine the peace and stability of the country.
In the spirit of cooperation and commitment to strengthening democratic processes in Zambia, the AUEOM urged the government to urgently undertake measures to address underlying factors of increasing tension and politically motivated violence through inclusive dialogue and engagement with other stakeholders.
It stressed the need to review the period provided for determining election petitions for presidential elections to allow sufficient adjudication time and prosecute perpetrators of election-related violence and other forms of political coercion.
The Mission also urged for creating law enforcement mechanisms to ensure that state resources (both human and material) do not serve partisan interests.
MG/as/APA