Observers say Zambia’s election marred by reports of intimidation, violence

International observers monitoring Zambia’s presidential election have raised concerns over reports of intimidation and abductions, after vote counting was suspended for several hours amid violence at polling stations.Observer missions – including those from the European Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region – on Saturday called for parties to tone down inflammatory statements as votes cast in Thursday’s general election were tallied.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Zambians vote in presidential election as economic reforms testedlist 2 of 3What’s at stake in Zambia’s elections?list 3 of 3Zambia suspends vote counting in election citing violenceend of listVote counting was temporarily suspended on Friday following reports of violence against polling staff and the alleged theft of ballot papers. Counting resumed hours later after the electoral commission said the “security threat to the electoral process had been contained”, said Al Jazeera’s Haru Mutasa, reporting from the capital, Lusaka.Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema, 64, is seeking a second term with the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND). His main challenger is a...