Hichilema clinches second term as Zambia President

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has secured a second term in office, according to election results announced on Tuesday.

The result gave Hichilema a convincing victory in Thursday’s presidential election in the copper-rich southern African country, although the poll was overshadowed by allegations of irregularities and a crackdown on opposition figures.

Voting was largely peaceful, but the opposition accused the government of intimidating its supporters and restricting its campaign activities. Election observers also raised concerns over the political environment surrounding the poll.

Several members of the main opposition alliance were still in police custody as of Tuesday after being arrested the previous week over allegations of links to militia or insurgent activities, charges the opposition rejected.

The leader of the main opposition NRPUP party, former government minister Brian Mundubile, is “in a secure location under the protection of an international human rights body due to threats made against him,” the group told AFP.

Mundubile, 55, won around 38 percent of the vote, according to election commission results released early Tuesday.

Hichilema took around 60 percent, similar to his score at the 2021 polls when he won his first five-year term.

The 64-year-old is due to be sworn in seven days after the commission publishes the official results, which is due by August 24, and if they are not challenged.

Supporters of his UPND party poured onto the streets of the capital Lusaka after the results were announced, singing and dancing in celebration.

Hichilema said in a statement: “We are truly humbled by the trust you have placed in our hands.”

“To those citizens who preferred the ideas presented by our opponents, we hear you, and we will continue to work for you,” he said.

“Now we must work harder than ever before to deliver meaningful development for every single Zambian, in every corner of our country.”

Hichilema entered the race as the clear favourite after steering Zambia through a major economic turnaround and restructuring its debt.

He restored ties with international lenders and courted millions of dollars in investment, particularly in the valuable copper industry.

But while inflation has eased, the economic gains have not been felt evenly for the more than 70 percent of the population which lives on less than $3 a day, according to World Bank data.

His first term was marked by concerns over Zambia’s political space, with opposition parties and civil society groups accusing his government of curbing dissent.

International observers said the poll was marred by opposition claims of intimidation, including by security forces, and an uneven playing field in which state-owned media coverage was heavily biased in favour of the ruling party.

They also criticised the election commission’s suspension of vote counting for around six hours on Friday following reports of violence against polling staff and the alleged theft of ballot papers.

Claims Of Irregularities

Mundubile’s NRPUP on Monday angrily rejected with “absolute disdain” government claims that its supporters in police custody were involved in “any insurgency, militia activity or any related conduct whatsoever”.

A parliamentarian was struck when shots were fired in the raid, Mundubile said. His condition was unknown.

A cabinet statement alleged on Sunday that some of those arrested were connected to “military plans involving foreign nationals and illegal military training camps, thus posing a serious threat to State security”.

Officials have not commented on the case since then.

Mundubile also alleged on Monday there had been irregularities in the counting, claiming without providing evidence that documents listing the results had been tampered with.

Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, has a long record of peaceful transfers of power through the ballot box, with every change of president since the return to multiparty politics in 1991 achieved through elections.

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