Zambians began voting very early Thursday in the country’s presidential and parliamentary elections after a campaign marred by violence between rival groups.

Al Jazeera’s Tania Page, reporting from a polling station in the capital, Lusaka, said there were queues of hundreds of people waiting to cast their ballots from early on Thursday morning.

The election, the fifth to be held in the country in a decade is considered historic because for the first time, a presidential candidate will not need not just a simple majority, but over 50 percent of the votes cast to be declared victorious.

About 6.7 million people are registered to vote in the southern African country, where President Edgar Lungu’s left-leaning PF faces a tough challenge from pro-business opposition leader Hichilema and his UPND.

Lungu, 59, became president after narrowly-winning a January 2015 by-election after the death of his predecessor Michael Sata.

Former Nigerian President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is leading the Short Term Elections Observation Mission, AUEOM deployed by the African Union to monitor the polls. The former Nigeria President has been out monitoring the elections as polling stations open in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital on Thursday morning. Pics source- GEJ

Former President Jonathan outside a polll station in Lusaka on Thursday morning

Jonathan besieged by journalists for interview on arrival at a poll station in Lusaka

At one of the polling stations, Jonathan witnessed the incumbent President Edgar Lungu cast his vote

A voter performs a civic duty

Former Nigerian President in a group photograph with members of the Election Observers team