Zambia Election: Opposition Candidate Hakainde Hichilema Wins Vote After 6 Attempts

• Hakainde Hichilema triumphed over his main rival, the incumbent Head of State Edgar Lungu, after securing 2.8 million votes
• Hakainde's supporters stormed the streets of the country's capital Lusaka with celebrations after he was declared the winner
• Lungu is yet to concede defeat after complaining of election malpractice

Opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has been declared the winner of the hotly-contested Zambia presidential election held on Thursday, 12 August.

Hakainde triumphed over his main rival, the incumbent Head of State Edgar Lungu, after securing 2 810 757 votes against 1 814 201.

After the Monday, 16 August, a declaration by the country's electoral commission, Hakainde's supporters stormed the streets of the country's capital Lusaka in celebration.

After trying five times unsuccessfully, the president-elect clinched the top seat on his sixth attempt and the third time he challenged Lungu.

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However, during Zambia's 2016 General Election, Hakainde lost to Lungu with a very small margin of about 100 000 votes. In 2015, the United Party for National Development (UPND) leader lost by a narrow margin of just 27 757 votes (1.66%) against Lungu.

Elections irregularities

As previously reported, Lungu said he was consulting on the next course of action regarding the results of the election, which was marred by sporadic violence.

In a statement on Saturday, August 14, Lungu claimed the exercise was marred with many irregularities that could potentially undermine democracy in the Southern African country.

The Patriotic Front leader claimed the election exercise in three provinces, Southern, North-Western and Western, was characterised by violence, thus rendering it null and void.

According to Lungu, his party agents and supporters were either assaulted or chased from polling stations in the three provinces, leaving thus votes unprotected.

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The ICGRL observer mission

Elsewhere, Kenya's Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka led a team of Africa's election observers under the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) umbrella to Zambia.

The ICGRL observer mission is the largest group, with 73 participants from all member states.

Lusaka, the ICGRL Parliamentary Forum president, said their objective was to ensure that Zambia has a peaceful environment to inspire confidence in the electorate.

Zambia's former president dies

In other Zambian political news, Briefly News recently reported that the former President of the Republic of Zambia, Kenneth David Kaunda, passed away.

His death was confirmed by his son Kambarange Kaunda, who said the founding president of Zambia breathed his last on Thursday, 17 June. Kaunda's death comes barely three days after he was hospitalised at a military hospital in the country's capital Lusaka, Zambia's Mwebantu reported.

The former president had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness, his office had earlier said. Mourning the fallen former president, presidential candidate in Zambia's 2021 elections Hakainde Hichilema said:

Source: Briefly News