Zambia's President Hakainde Hichilema has been re-elected for second five-year term after securing 60% of the valid votes cast, the electoral commission has announced.

🌐 Here's What Happened

Hichilema's win was widely expected, with his closest challenger Brian Mundubile getting 38% of the votes. The remaining 12 candidates trailed far behind.

Under Zambia's electoral system, a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote to win in the first round, avoiding a runoff.

The result came after a contested process, with 55-year-old Mundubile earlier claiming victory and alleging, without providing evidence, that there had been voting irregularities.

📌 Key Details

In statement after being declared the winner, Hichilema,64, said: "We are truly humbled by the trust you have placed in our hands."

He said the election showed that Zambia was a nation of peace, law and order and a "democratic nation that settles our differences at the ballot box, and nowhere else".

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

Hundreds of Hichilema's supporters, dressed in the red colours of his UPND party flooded the streets of the capital, Lusaka, to celebrate after the results declaration.

Hakainde Hichilema's supporters poured onto the streets to celebrate

Zambia has a record of peaceful transfers of power. Since the return to multiparty democracy in 1991, presidential transitions have occurred through the ballot box.

📰 Source: BBC Africa