Zambia's Hichilema wins re-election with 60% of vote

Zambia's President Hakainde Hichilema won re-election with 60 percent of votes cast last week, the electoral commission announced Tuesday, after a race critics said was tightly managed by his government.

Thursday's election in the copper-rich nation was largely peaceful but the run-up was tainted by opposition claims of intimidation, arrests, violence and irregularities.

The result was widely expected, with Hichilema -- in power since 2021 -- facing a crowded field of 13 challengers led by a former provincial minister, Brian Mundubile, making his first bid for the presidency.

Mundubile, 55, secured nearly 38 percent of the vote, Electoral Commission of Zambia chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis said.

Five of the 226 constituencies had not been tallied, she said. However, "The outstanding results are not likely to materially influence the overall result of that election."

In a statement after his victory was announced, 64-year-old Hichilema said: "We are truly humbled by the trust you have placed in our hands."

He added: "To those citizens who preferred the ideas presented by our opponents, we hear you, and we will continue to work for you."

Hundreds of his supporters wearing the red colours of his UPND party poured onto the streets of the capital Lusaka, singing and dancing in celebration and lighting firecrackers.

On Monday, Mundubile alleged there had been irregularities in the counting, claiming -- without providing evidence -- that documents listing the results had been tampered with, which he said risked the "integrity" of the tally.

"There are also allegations that officials in Southern Province were pressured to modify figures, with some of the alleged communication said to have been made through local government structures," he said in a video message posted on social media.

Hours earlier, his NRPUP party angrily rejected government claims that its members were involved in militia or insurgent activity.

This followed the government's announcement late Sunday that police had arrested 11 people, including six opposition figures, in a raid against "militia activity".

They were "in possession of high-grade military weapons, ammunition and other materials for use in armed insurrection," it said.

The NRPUP said shots were fired in the raid, which took place at Mundubile's home, and a parliamentarian was hit.

It "rejects with absolute disdain the spurious and entirely false claims made by the Zambian Government that the NRPUP, its leadership or its members have been involved in insurgency, militia activity or any related conduct whatsoever," it said.

The electoral commission was criticised for suspending vote counting for around six hours on Friday following reports of violence against polling staff and the alleged theft of ballot papers.

The count resumed after it announced the "security threat" had been contained.

International observer missions, including the European Union, said the pause risked the credibility of the process as well as voter confidence.

They also warned at the weekend that restrictions on the opposition in the campaigning period may have contributed to an uneven contest.

Oxford Economics Africa said Monday events around the vote, including the arrests, had "raised serious questions about the integrity of the results".

"Hopes of a calm and credible election in Zambia have been dashed," the think-tank said, warning the country was "very tense".

The vote was seen as a test of Hichilema's first five years in office during which the economy has returned to growth.

While he touts debt restructuring and lower inflation as key achievements, critics say the gains have yet to translate into better living standards for ordinary people.

More than 70 percent of the 22 million population lives on less than $3 a day, according to the World Bank.

Zambia, Africa's second-largest copper producer, has a long record of peaceful transfers of power through the ballot box, with every change of president since the return to multiparty politics in 1991 achieved through elections.