Hichilema Wins Second Term as Zambia President Amid Cost-of-Living Pressures

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Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has been re-elected for a second five-year term after securing 61.4% of the roughly 5 million votes cast in the August 13 election, the Electoral Commission of Zambia announced early Tuesday.

Hichilema received 2,965,326 votes, while his main challenger, opposition leader Brian Mundubile, won 1,856,217, according to the commission. The result gave Hichilema a clear majority and avoided the need for a runoff. Commission chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis formally declared him president-elect.

The victory, in Hichilema’s seventh run for the presidency, gives him another five years to build on the economic recovery he began after taking office in 2021, when Zambia was struggling with a severe debt crisis. His government oversaw the restructuring of Zambia’s sovereign debt while reining in inflation and stabilising the currency.

But those macroeconomic gains have not yet translated into improved living conditions for many Zambians. Mundubile campaigned on that disconnect, arguing that stronger economic indicators had done little to ease daily financial pressures. He secured about 38% of the vote in his first presidential bid.

The vote itself was followed by sharp tensions. On election night, authorities arrested 11 people, including leading opposition figures, in a raid that involved an exchange of gunfire and took place while Mundubile was present. Police accused the arrested figures of posing a threat to state security.

The next day, the Electoral Commission suspended vote counting for hours after reports of violence against polling staff and the theft of ballot papers. Counting later resumed under heightened security.

Mundubile said his home had been raided in what he described as an attack on his life. He also said he had received information suggesting possible alteration of results forms from polling stations and called for an urgent independent investigation. Hichilema’s campaign rejected the allegation.

International observers said the election was largely peaceful but raised concerns about the broader electoral environment. Michael McNamara, chief of the European Union observation mission, said late legal changes, legal uncertainty and unequal campaign conditions had “distorted the playing field.”

The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops also questioned the deployment of the army during vote counting, saying maintaining order during elections is constitutionally the responsibility of the Zambia Police Service.

Greg Musiker, a Zambia analyst at advisory firm Signal Risk, said the opposition is unlikely to accept the results and could lodge a legal challenge, though such a challenge is unlikely to succeed. He added that localised political violence is possible in the coming days, but widespread unrest is not expected.

Hichilema’s victory also keeps Zambia at the centre of intensifying competition between China and the United States for copper and other critical minerals.

The immediate challenge for his government will be converting debt relief, lower inflation and currency stability into improvements that are visible in everyday life, while managing the political tensions stirred by the election.