EU EOM Election Observation Update

Polling station results tabulation took place in 226 totalling centres at constituency level and is still ongoing in some remaining totalling centres. On 14 August 2026, the day after elections, the Electoral Commission Zambia (ECZ) suspended the counting and announcement of election results' nationwide from 12:00 to 18:00. This was stated to be due to violent incidents targeting polling staff and, in some instances, allegations of ballot box theft. No further details were provided on the locations and how systematic or isolated these incidents were.

The EU EOM has had observers present for the tabulation in 64 totalling centres. Until the suspension, results tabulation was assessed as 'very good' in 43 per cent of the EOM's observations. Polling agents and citizen observers were present in almost all totalling centres observed and followed results entry.

However, after the lifting of the suspension late on 14 August, EU EOM observers assessed that the overall conduct of tabulation deteriorated significantly.(1) In a high number, the totalling centres' staff failed to record the results on the tally sheet as soon as they were announced by the returning officer, as prescribed by the electoral process regulations.(2)

The number of observations in which totalling centres staff ensured that the figures entered in the digital results management kit corresponded with those on the tally sheet dropped after the suspension. (3) EU EOM observers reported extended breaks during the results tabulation process in almost half of observations, as the returning officers seemed to wait and receive instructions from ECZ headquarters before announcing results. Further, a heavy military presence in totalling centres following the suspension was reportedly intimidating to most interlocutors and resulted in the number of party agents and citizen observers present at totalling centres being lower than before.

The EU EOM also received reports of violent incidents at some totalling centres. In Lusaka, an armed group attacked the totalling centre in Makeni and took almost all polling stations result forms on 15 August. In Central province, various credible witnesses interviewed by observers, reported that alleged UPND cadres raided two out of three totalling centres in Kabwe on 16 August, fundamentally disrupting the tabulation process.

Having launched a results website the day before elections, the ECZ did not publish partial results on it. On election day, the ECZ confirmed that they would not publish disaggregated polling stations results, despite it being an important measure of transparency as it allows everyone to compare polling station results to those announced by the ECZ. The ECZ declared preliminary presidential results shortly before 03:00, in the middle of the night on 18 August.

The EU EOM repeats its call for maximal transparency in this, as in other parts of the process, and recalls the confidence-building benefit of publishing disaggregated results, broken down by polling station, by the ECZ at the national level.

The EU EOM remains in country and continues to observe with nationwide coverage in all 10 provinces of Zambia.

(1) At this point, the transparency of the results tabulation was assessed by EU EOM observers as 'bad' or 'very bad' on a four-point scale in 12 per cent of totalling centres observed, with only 27 per cent 'very good'.

(2) This was 42 per cent of observations, compared to 30 per cent pre-suspension.

(3) This was true in 81 per cent of observations, compared to 100 per cent prior to the suspension.