Claim
From the early hours of 13th August 2021, a day after the General Elections, various platforms published what they claimed were official results from polling stations and other tallying centres. Some presidential candidates even went on to concede defeat, before the official results were announced, and endorsed United Party for National Development (UPND) candidate , Hakainde Hichilema whom they claimed had won resoundingly. Those who conceded defeat and endorsed the alleged victory of Mr Hichilema include Sean Tembo of the Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP), Fred M’membe of the Socialist Party, and Dr Nevers Mumba of the New Hope Movement for Multiparty Democracy. On 13th August,2021, Patriots for Economic Progress, an aspiring political party in Zambia, published an article on their online social media platform announcing that they conceded defeat in the Presidential race realizing that the race was between two political parties, namely Patriotic Front and the United Party for National Development. The Patriots for Economic Progress further alleged that based on the results that have been announced so far, it appeared inevitable that Mr. Hakainde Hichilema of the UPND would win the presidency in this election.
Rating Justification
The claims relating to the outcome of the results are inconclusive. By the end of day on 13th August, the ECZ had not yet announced any official results for the presidential elections. Only some local government and parliamentary election results had been announced. The first batch of official results were only announced in the early hours of 14th August 2021. Only the Electoral Commission of Zambia is mandated to announce the results, and they have so far not declared any winner of the Presidential elections. On the 13th of August 2021, during an engagement with stakeholders at the Results Centre, ECZ Chief Electoral Officer Kryticous Nshindano censured political parties and other stakeholders from announcing results that had not been certified by the Commission and reiterated that they are the only official body that can disseminate election results to the public. The Commission also advised the public not to publish any information about the election result for that act is illegal. All official election results announced by the ECZ are available on https://zambiaelections2021.org.zm/. The iVerify team has been following the ECZ updates concerning the time they would announce the results that have been compiled and totaled from different polling stations. The first update was scheduled at 10hrs on the 13th August, however, it was cancelled as the Electoral Commission of Zambia advised the Nation that they did not have most of the verified results from the polling stations and instead rescheduled the update for 15hrs, contrary to what the Patriots for Economic Progress claimed. Furthermore, the iVerify team tuned in to the national broadcasting television (ZNBC) to follow the proceedings on the updates of the results, yet, the Electoral Commission of Zambia was unable to announce the results due to the objection that was made by the UPND Election Campaign Chairman Mr. Garry NKombo and the Heritage Party representative.
