By Ingrid "Shortwave" Frost
LUSAKA — Hakainde Hichilema has won a second term as president of Zambia, taking about 60 percent of the vote against roughly 38 percent for his nearest challenger, according to official results.
The count itself was not straightforward. Attacks on election officials briefly halted the tallying process before it resumed and produced the final numbers — a detail that undercuts any tidy narrative of a smooth democratic exercise, even with a wide winning margin. Details on who carried out those attacks and why have not been fully established in the reporting available.
Zambia is one of the world's top copper producers, and Hichilema's economic record — built partly on courting foreign mining investment — was central to his pitch for a second term. Copper prices and global demand for the metal, driven by everything from electric vehicles to data centers, make Zambia's politics a matter of interest well beyond its borders.
Hichilema first won the presidency in 2021 in a landslide that unseated the incumbent, campaigning on economic reform and debt restructuring after Zambia became the first African country to default during the pandemic. This win extends that mandate, though the disruption at the count is a reminder that Zambia's democratic institutions, while more resilient than many in the region, are not immune to strain.
No international election observer statements were available in the material reviewed for this report; readers should treat the 60-38 figure as Zambia's official tally pending any independent monitoring assessment.
FILED FROM SOMEWHERE WITH BAD COFFEE —
— Compiled from reporting by Al Jazeera.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."