POLLING BRIEF | Voting Moves into Final Hours
Zambia’s general election is moving through its final afternoon with voting continuing across the country ahead of the 18:00 close of polls.
Reports reaching The People’s Brief from several provinces point to substantial queues and what appears to be strong voter participation, although a national turnout figure will only become clear after the Electoral Commission of Zambia consolidates the numbers.
President Hakainde Hichilema and his main challenger, Brian Mundubile, have now cast their ballots in Lusaka.
Hichilema voted at Kabulonga Boys Secondary School alongside members of his family before telling voters: “Five years ago, you placed your trust in us. Today, the decision for the next five years rests where it should. With the people of Zambia.” He urged registered voters still at home to reach their polling stations before 18:00 and added: “Vote in peace, and let others do the same.”
Mundubile struck a similarly restrained tone after voting. “Today, I cast my vote with confidence in the power of the Zambian people,” he wrote. “Every vote is a voice, and every voice matters. Let us choose the Zambia we believe in.”
After a campaign whose closing days were dominated by disputes over security, arrests, campaign financing and the credibility of the electoral process, both leading candidates have therefore used election day to place the emphasis back on the ballot.
Hichilema’s appearance with his family also provides an important factual correction to a narrative circulated by some opposition-aligned social-media accounts before polling day suggesting members of the First Family had been taken out of Zambia. They appeared publicly with the President in Lusaka today.
Whatever political interpretation was attached to the earlier claims, the central factual proposition has been contradicted by their public appearance.
Another feature of election day is what has not happened. Internet access remains available. Zambia entered polling day amid memories of restrictions imposed on social-media platforms during the 2021 election, but there has been no comparable nationwide social-media shutdown observed today.
Hichilema himself turned the contrast into humour shortly after voting, posting: “Sorry to the VPN Providers .” The message quickly attracted thousands of reactions and comments.
The digital contest is producing another interesting signal. Screenshots reviewed by The People’s Brief show unusually heavy engagement around Hichilema’s election-day content.
His morning “reserves” post had accumulated about 139,000 reactions and 24,000 comments by early afternoon, while his arrival at Kabulonga had drawn roughly 37,000 reactions and 12,000 comments at the time captured.
Mundubile is also drawing significant online engagement: an earlier morning post showed about 78,000 reactions and 12,000 comments, while his voting photographs had reached about 15,000 reactions shortly after publication. These figures are snapshots rather than final measurements.
There is an important distinction here. Social-media engagement is not an opinion poll, and Facebook reactions are not ballots. Audience size, algorithms, paid distribution, posting time and the mobilisation of supporters can all influence digital numbers. What the activity does show is a sharp intensification of political participation online as voting proceeds. The electoral answer will come from polling stations, not timelines.
For now, Zambia is still voting. No queue, Facebook metric, crowd photograph or campaign claim can responsibly be converted into a national result.
The next decisive transition comes after 18:00, when attention moves from mobilisation to ballot reconciliation, counting and the transmission of results.
Our team will remain active through that process, separating verified results from projections, claims and misinformation as Zambia waits for the numbers.
© The People’s Brief | Chileshe Sengwe; Ollus R. Ndomu; Mendoi Liteta