News · Priscilla Asante

Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema re-elected.

The President of Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema, ?has been re-elected for ?a second five-year term. 

Results released by the electoral commission in the early hours of this morning showed that Mr. Hichilema received roughly 61 point four percent of valid votes, compared with ?38 percent for his main challenger, Brian Mundubile. 

It was Hichilema’s seventh run for the presidency, and he was widely expected to win due to the advantages of incumbency, while it was Mundubile’s first bid to become head of state. 

After his victory was announced, hundreds of Hichilema’s supporters gathered in the capital, Lusaka, wearing the red colours of his United Party for National Development, UPND, singing, dancing and setting off firecrackers in celebration. 

 Hichilema issued a statement after his victory, saying he was truly humbled by the trust reposed in him and promised to work with everyone irrespective of their political affiliations. 

International observers, including the European Union, said the election was peaceful, but added that the broader electoral process took place in an environment that limited fundamental freedoms. 

 However, they observed that late legal changes, legal uncertainty, and unequal campaign conditions distorted the election. Zambia, home to 22 million people and Africa’s second-largest copper producer, has a long record of peaceful transfers of power through the ballot box. Every change of president since the return to multiparty politics in 1991, has been achieved through elections.