EU raises alarm on election irregularities in Zambia, chief recipient of Global Gateway money

EU officials have pointed to major irregularities in Zambia’s presidential vote in the African country which hosts the flagship project under the EU’s Global Gateway scheme. The EU team also reported that an armed group attacked a totalling centre in the capital Lusaka and took almost all polling stations’ result forms on 15 August. In central province, meanwhile, EU observers reported to “credible witnesses” that alleged UPND cadres “raided two out of three totalling centres in Kabwe on 16 August, fundamentally disrupting the tabulation process.” As expected, president Hakainde Hichilemena, the leader of the United Party for National Development, was declared the winner on 18 August, with about 60 percent of the vote, compared with 38 percent for Brian Mundubile. In its initial assessment of the vote on 13 August, the EU’s election observation mission reported that practices at 43 percent of totalling centres had been “very good”. But vote counting was suspended on 14 August, the day after polling day, with the Electoral Commission Zambia (ECZ) citing violent incidents targeting polling staff and, in some instances, allegations of ballot box theft. When it resumed, EU EOM observers assessed that the overall conduct of tabulation had “deteriorated significantly” and was “bad” or “very bad” on a four-point scale in 12 per cent of totalling centres observed, with only 27 per cent “very good”. On Wednesday (19 August), opposition leader Mundubile said that he will challenge the election results in ⁠court, pointing to “documented serious irregularities, inconsistencies and circumstances surrounding ‌the conduct, counting, transmission and declaration of results.” The EU EOM observers reported extended breaks during the results tabulation process in almost half of observations, adding that “the returning officers seemed to wait and receive instructions from ECZ headquarters before announcing results.” “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,” the EOM added. The election is significant for the EU because the bloc is investing heavily in the Lobito Corridor, an EU-US project that aims to revamp a rail network connecting the mineral-rich regions of DR Congo, and Zambia’s copper belt with Lobito Port in Angola – a distance of several thousand kilometres. The EU has mobilised more than €2bn for the project which is part of its strategy to secure access to critical minerals – DR Congo and Zambia are among the world’s biggest copper producers. President Hichilema has a reputation as an ally of the mining industry having lowered the tax rates on their production and offered a series of other incentives to them. In July, a report by Global Witness claimed that First Quantum Minerals, a Canadian mining firm that accounts for more than half of Zambia’s copper production, had made generous contributions to president Hakainde Hichilema through several elections over the last decade. Global Witness also alleged that FQM had promised up to $50 million (€42.7bn) to finance Hichilema and his UPND ahead of the general elections, despite the party’s insistence that it wouldn’t accept any foreign funding. FQM has flatly rejected the Global Witness report and insists that it hasn’t financed Hichilema either in the past and ahead of this year’s elections. In May, FQM reported that it had paid $3.46bn in tax to the Zambian government in 2025 making it the largest single taxpayer in the country. It told Global Witness that its accusations were “entirely unfounded and appear to be based on unsubstantiated speculation rather than any verifiable facts”. Last November, the EU Commission announced a separate €50m grant to develop Zambia’s rail network.