Police in Zambia have arrested and detained a man who is believed to have hacked into the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) server and IT system at the national elections totaling centre in Lusaka.

Local media have reported that the suspect confessed to police that he illegally gained access to the ECZ system in order to manipulate the results and influence the outcome of the country's national elections held last week.

ECZ IT officials confirmed that they had alerted police after becoming aware that the man had gained access to- and was interfering with their IT system.

Legal counsel representing the Zambia's main opposition party, the UPND, quizzed ECZ director Priscilla Isaac as to how an outsider managed to gain access to the highly restricted IT zone.

At a media briefing Isaac said she did not know how the suspect gained access. "No one can get a password of the server unless he has been provided by the IT staff," she said.

The suspect is yet to be formally charged by police and remains in custody pending further investigation.

Meanwhile Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) Director for Support Services Mofya Chisala told the local Post newspaper that there was a likelihood of service disruption at the totaling centre.

Chisala was quoted as saying their switch may not be able to handle the volume of online traffic.