By Michael Chawe, LUSAKA Zambia
Zambia’s opposition leader and
businessman Hakainde Hichilema was early Monday declared president-elect after
beating incumbent Edgar Lungu in the August 12 poll.Zambia’s opposition leader and businessman Hakainde Hichilema who was early August 16, 2021 declared president-elect after beating incumbent Edgar Lungu.
Mr Lungu, 64, called the vote not “free
and fair” and his Patriotic Front party was consulting on the next course of
action.
He had by Monday not conceded defeat
despite his assurance to AU observer delegation leader Bai Koroma who met him
at State House in the capital Lusaka.
It was Mr Hichilema’s fifth attempt at
the presidency under the United Party for National Development since it was
formed in 1998.
Zambia's electoral commission chairperson
Esau Chulu declared Mr Hichilema, who garnered 2,810,757 votes — translating to
59.38 per cent — against Mr Lungu’s 1,814,201 (38.33 per cent) the winner.
He announced the results with 155 out of
156 constituencies reporting, saying the results from the remaining one
constituency would not materially influence the outcome.
ALSO READ: President Lungu under pressure to concede defeat in Zambia polls
After the official announcement was made
slightly before 2.35am, Mr Hichilema’s supporters went into a frenzy, popping
champagne in celebration.
The party’s chairman for elections Garry
Nkombo praised Mr Hichilema’s tenacity and resilience, adding that the
president-elect will not witch hunt his opponents.
“Mr Hichilema is a Christian and he also
knows that vengeance is for God,” he said.
The election was marred by sporadic chaos
with two people dying in the violence.
Mr Hichilema, an economist trained at the
University of Zambia and a former CEO of an accounting firm before entering
politics, is faced with a tough task of turning around the economy in the
copper exporting country, a premise on which he campaigned winning young
people’s vote who turned out in their thousands to cast their ballots.
Mr Hichilema, 59, is the first southerner
to win the presidency, which has been dominated by the north.
He becomes Zambia’s seventh president
since it gained independence from Britain in 1964.
ALSO READ: Celebrations as Zambian opposition candidate leads in count
Zambia’s economy has floundered under the
watch of the Patriotic Front party founded by former president Michael Sata who
died in 2014. Youth unemployment and unsustainable fiscal policies led to
public dissatisfaction.
Mr Lungu succeeded Sata, winning two
elections before his loss in the latest election.
Zambia has had a relatively smooth
transition of power and it is unclear if Mr Lungu will petition the vote.
The country had a population of 18 million people with 7.2 million
registered voters.
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