· The electoral commission of Zambia has announced the final Presidential election results from 156 constituencies.
· The Opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has emerged as the winner defeating incumbent Edgar Lungu in Zambia’s election.
The electoral commission of Zambia has announced the final Presidential election results from 156 constituencies. The Opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has emerged as the winner defeating incumbent Edgar Lungu in Zambia’s election. According to the final tally, Hichilema secured 2,810,777 votes while Lungu was in second place with 1,814,201 votes, out of 7 million registered voters. The significant lead of Hichilema means that he has met the constitutional 50.1% threshold for an outright winner and does not have to contest any second-round run-offs.
Hichilema, was a former CEO at an accounting firm before entering politics. He fought the 2016 elections losing narrowly to Lungu who won his second five-year term. Hichilema faces an uphill task of turning around the sinking economy, Africa’s second-biggest copper producer. Apart from the Pandemic, Zambian economy is faced with tough challenges such as rising youth unemployment, falling copper prices and unsustainable fiscal policies initiated by the former government. An IMF support Programme is on the anvil until the voting is over.
