The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has yet to respond to questions from Zambian Eye concerning differences between the presidential election results announced during the official declaration and figures contained in its subsequent constituency-level publication.
Zambian Eye formally approached the Electoral Commission of Zambia seeking clarification on discrepancies identified in the Commission’s publication titled 2026 Presidential Election Results by Constituency, dated August 25, 2026.
The Commission was given until 09:00 hours on Monday, November 9, 2026, to respond to the press query.
However, as of the preparation of this follow-up report, no response had been received.
The matter concerns differences between the presidential vote totals announced when President Hakainde Hichilema was declared winner of the August 13 elections and those contained in the subsequent constituency results publication. 2026-Presidential-Election-Results-By-Constituency-FINAL
According to the earlier declaration figures reported publicly, Hichilema received 2,965,326 votes, while opposition candidate Brian Mundubile received 1,856,217.
The ECZ publication dated August 25, however, records 3,010,542 votes for Hichilema and 1,872,799 for Mundubile.
This represents an increase of 45,216 votes for Hichilema and 16,582 votes for Mundubile compared with the earlier reported declaration figures.
The differences do not change the ranking of the two leading candidates in either set of figures. Nevertheless, they raise questions about the reconciliation and publication of the official election record.
What Zambian Eye asked ECZ
In its press query, Zambian Eye sought clarification on whether the figures had been revised or reconciled following the initial declaration.
The Commission was also asked to identify which set of figures represents the final authoritative national presidential election results.
Other questions concerned whether constituency results had been corrected or amended, which constituencies were affected, and whether ECZ could provide an official reconciliation statement explaining the differences.
These are questions about the accuracy and consistency of public election records.
They do not, by themselves, establish electoral misconduct or wrongdoing.
Why the explanation matters
The publication of detailed constituency results is an important transparency measure because it allows citizens, political parties, journalists, researchers and election observers to examine the figures underlying the national presidential result.
However, when two publicly reported sets of figures differ, an explanation is necessary to establish how the final totals were arrived at.
The issue has emerged shortly after the European Union Election Observation Mission released its final report on Zambia’s August 13, 2026 general elections.
That report examined the electoral environment and made recommendations concerning transparency, accountability and the administration of elections.
While the EU report and the ECZ results publication address different aspects of the election, both are relevant to public confidence in the electoral process.
Full ECZ document available to the public
Earlier today, Zambian Eye published a detailed report examining the figures contained in the ECZ constituency results publication.
The report also makes available the complete 162-page ECZ document for public reference, allowing readers to examine results from all 226 constituencies.
READ OUR EARLIER REPORT AND ACCESS THE FULL ECZ DOCUMENT HERE:
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Zambian Eye remains open to receiving and publishing ECZ’s explanation.
Should the Commission respond after publication, its position will be incorporated into our continuing coverage.
For now, the central question remains unanswered:
Why do the national presidential vote totals in ECZ’s August 25 publication differ from the figures reported during the initial declaration?