New Delhi, Aug. 18 -- LUSAKA - Armed men fired live rounds outside opposition leader Brian Mundubile's compound hours after polls closed in Zambia's August 13 presidential election, wounding a member of parliament and forcing the removal of several opposition figures in scenes the country's main presidential challenger would later describe as a politically motivated assault.

By Monday, with results from 71 percent of constituencies announced, President Hakainde Hichilema held nearly 62 percent of the valid votes against Mundubile's 36 percent, a lead so commanding it would ordinarily signal a settled contest. Instead, Zambia's electoral commission and its international monitors find themselves managing the most fraught post-election envi...