Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema Wins Second Term

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has won a second term, according to election results released Tuesday, giving him a convincing victory in polls marred by claims of irregularities and a raid on the opposition. While voting in Thursday’s election in the copper-rich southern African nation was largely peaceful, the opposition said its campaign had suffered from intimidation and restrictions on its activities, concerns echoed by observers. Police were still holding several figures from the main opposition alliance, arrested last week on rejected allegations of involvement in militia or insurgent activity.

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, as the 64-year-old is due to be sworn in seven days after the commission publishes the official results, which are due by August 24, 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. We are truly humbled by the trust you have placed in our hands, Hichilema said in a statement. To those citizens who preferred our opponents’ ideas, we hear you, and we will continue to work for you. Now we must work harder than ever before to deliver meaningful development for every single Zambian, in every corner of our country.

Written by News Room