Zambians citizens have gone to the ballot box to vote in president and parliamentarians of their choice following campaigning marred by clashes between rival supporters.
The race to presidency is expected to be a stiff race between President Edgar Lungu’s governing PF party and the opposition UPND led by Hakainde Hichilema. The elections are different from the previous since a presidential candidate must win more than 50% of the vote to avoid a run-off.
Each of the nine presidential candidates has a running mate to avoid a presidential by-election if the president dies in office – which has happened twice in the last 10 years
Long, calm, orderly queues have formed and election monitors have not reported any complaints, he says.During the last election, some women wearing nail varnish were forced to remove it before voting as polling officials said they would not be able to apply the indelible ink correctly.
But on Wednesday night, the electoral commission circulated posts on social media saying women with “painted nails and/or false nails” could vote.