Voting was briefly disrupted at Mahilo polling station in Kaoma central constituency. This was after people suspected a lady, who went to cast her vote in the booth whilst carrying her handbag, to have pre-marked ballot papers.
The incidence occurred in the midafternoon between 14:00hours and 15:00hours. The development agitated other voters who ran amok and destroyed property at the school.
Kaoma District Electoral Officer Raphael Kamanga confirmed the development to ZANIS in an interview.
Mr. Kamanga, who is also Kaoma Town Council Secretary, said the incident led to the suspension of voting for 30 minutes.
The situation was only calmed by the reinforcement of Zambia police officers at the polling station.
“I can confirm that a woman was seen in the booth voting whilst carrying her hand bag which raised a lot of suspicions and people broke windows and voting had to be suspended. It was only resumed after police intervened, as a result of that closing of the polling station was delayed by 30 mins,”Mr. Kamanga explained.
No arrests have be made so far.
Meanwhile, voting in most polling station was closed at exactly 18:00hours except for Kaoma Trades Training Institution which closed after 18:30hours due to overwhelming voter turnout.
Mr. Kamanga said despite the Mahilo polling station incident, the district was relatively peaceful during voting.
If you loose just accept defeat