LUSAKA, Zambia, Aug 18 — Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema has been re-elected for a second five-year term after securing a 60pc share of the vote, the electoral commission has announced.

📻 Breaking It Down

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

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.

It also followed the arrest of some leading opposition figures  on Friday who the authorities accused of plotting an insurrection. Mundubile called the claim a fabrication.

📌 What You Need to Know

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 place 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.

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.

It is unclear if the opposition will challenge the election result.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya