Hakainde Hichilema Wins Second Zambia Term with 60% as Rival Challenges Vote
Zambia’s electoral commission has declared President Hakainde Hichilema the winner of a second five-year term, saying he secured 60% of the vote.
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Hichilema’s victory had been widely anticipated. His nearest challenger, Brian Mundubile, received 38% of the votes cast, while the remaining 12 candidates finished well behind the two leading contenders.
Mundubile, 55, said he would challenge the result in court, arguing that his NRPUP party had gathered evidence of irregularities during the election.
The party earlier told the BBC that Mundubile had moved to a “secure location under the protection of an international human rights body due to threats made against him”.
Local media reported that Mundubile and his running mate, Makebi Zulu, were staying at a UN agency in the capital, Lusaka, amid fears that they could be arrested.
The reports followed the arrest of several prominent opposition figures during a Friday raid. Authorities accused those detained of plotting an insurrection, an allegation Mundubile described as fabricated.
In a statement, Mundubile said the announced figures did not provide “a true reflection of what took place across this election”.
“We have evidence. We have records. We have documented what we could as events unfolded. We will now place that evidence before the appropriate legal institutions and pursue every lawful avenue available to us within the prescribed period,” he said.
Following his declaration as president-elect, Hichilema, 64, said: “We are truly humbled by the trust you have placed in our hands.”
He said the poll had demonstrated that Zambia was a country of peace, law and order, as well as 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 supporters took to the streets of Lusaka after the results were announced, many wearing the red colours of his United Party for National Development (UPND).
Zambia has a long record of peaceful transfers of power. Since the country returned to multiparty democracy in 1991, presidents have changed through elections.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mundubile rejected government claims that the NRPUP or people linked to the party had been involved in an insurgency or posed a threat to state security.
“We reject those allegations absolutely. Our campaign was built on two words: hope and peace.”
He also urged supporters not to respond with violence or retaliation. “I ask every supporter of our party… to remain calm. Do not allow anger to destroy what we have built,” he said.
Mundubile repeated claims about a raid on his Lusaka home, alleging that armed men forced their way into the property, shots were fired and former minister Mutotwe Kafwaya was shot in front of him.
Kafwaya remained missing, Mundubile said, adding that his family had not received an adequate explanation about his whereabouts or condition.
“A man was shot. That man is now missing. His family deserves answers. Zambia deserves answers.”
Speaking to the BBC on Monday, Mundubile said armed personnel had used an armoured vehicle to break through the gate of his home before smashing doors and windows and opening fire.
“They came in to kill us,” he said.
He denied authorities’ allegations that high-grade military weapons had been kept at the property or that a militia was present there.
Mulambo Haimbe, Hichilema’s election agent and a senior UPND member, said Mundubile’s account of the incident was “not correct”.
Speaking to the BBC’s Newsday programme on Tuesday, Haimbe said criminal charges were being brought against those who had been arrested.
He added that the courts would deal with the related disputes if the opposition party proceeded with a legal challenge to the election result.
The electoral commission briefly halted the counting and release of results one day after voting, citing reports of violence against polling staff and the theft of marked ballot papers in some areas.
The suspension was lifted later that same day.
Regional and international observers described polling day as largely peaceful and called on all parties to remain calm and respect the official process.
However, they raised concerns about electoral reforms introduced late, as well as media freedom and access to the media before the vote.
Samuel Tembenu, a former Malawian minister who led the Southern African bloc’s (SADC) observer mission, was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying his team had “recorded, but could not verify, reports of intimidation, assault, abduction and damage to property in five provinces”.
Observers also warned that the temporary halt to the counting process risked undermining the credibility of the election and weakening voter confidence.
