Opposition Leader Takes Lead In Zambia’s Presidential Election

Zambia presidential election results on Monday showed that the opposition leader and business tycoon Hakainde Hichilema obtained a stunning landslide victory, defeating incumbent Edgar Lungu.

With 155 of 156 constituencies reporting, official results on Monday showed Hichilema had secured 2,810,757 votes against Lungu’s 1,814,201.

Electoral commission chairman Justice Esau Chulu in a televised address said,

“I therefore declare the said Hakainde Hichilema to be president-elect of the Republic of Zambia,.”

The significant win sparked celebrations on the streets after an election marred by sporadic violence.

Hichilema, 59, a former CEO at an accounting firm before entering politics, now faces the task of trying to revive Zambia’s fortunes.

The economy has been buoyed only slightly by more favourable copper prices – now hovering around decade highs, driven partly by the boom in electric cars.

In 2020, Zambia, Africa’s second biggest copper miner, produced a record output of the metal.

International Monetary Fund support is on hold until after the vote, as is a debt restructuring plan seen as an early test for a new global plan aimed at easing the burden of poor countries.

Lungu, 64, has yet to concede defeat, and has indicated that he might challenge the result.

Lungu on Saturday alleged that the election was “not free and fair” after incidents of violence against ruling Patriotic Front Party agents in three provinces.

UPND officials dismissed Lungu’s statement as emanating from people “trying to throw out the entire election just to cling on to their jobs”