Incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema has secured a second five-year mandate in Zambia’s presidential election, clearing the constitutional 50 percent threshold without requiring a run-off.
Official final tally data released early Tuesday by the Electoral Commission of Zambia confirms that Hichilema garnered 2,965,326 votes, representing 61.4 percent of the valid ballots cast nationwide.
His chief challenger, opposition leader Brian Mundubile of the Tonse Alliance coalition, secured 1,856,217 votes, or approximately 37.9 percent of the total 5 million ballots counted.
The declaration by Electoral Commission Chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis concludes a high-stakes poll following a temporary suspension of vote counting last Friday over localized security incidents and political tensions.
Hichilema’s victory reinforces investor confidence in his administration’s fiscal agenda, which successfully concluded a complex debt restructuring framework following the nation’s sovereign default during the 2020 economic downturn.
The election outcome grants the ruling United Party for National Development a mandate to accelerate copper production targets, expand mining investments, and maintain inflation-control measures across Africa’s second-largest copper producer.
