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The Electoral Commission of Zambia declared Hakainde Hichilema the winner of the August 13 presidential election with 60.49 percent of the vote against 37.87 percent for Brian Mundubile according to consolidated official results. A total of 5,028,606 ballots were cast from 8,786,300 registered voters producing a turnout of 57.23 percent. Hichilema’s United Party for National Development also captured a strong majority in parliamentary voting that was still being finalised in some constituencies.
Police detained Mundubile and his running mate Makebi Zulu last week after they emerged from hiding and charged them with treason at the weekend a development reported across regional outlets. The accusations trace to a raid the day after polling on a Lusaka property associated with the opposition that resulted in the death of former cabinet minister Mutotwe Kafwaya and the arrest of more than a dozen others. Authorities described the operation as a response to an alleged armed insurrection plot which the opposition has rejected as fabricated.
European Union election observers documented shortcomings in the tabulation phase that followed the largely peaceful voting. Staff at numerous centres omitted immediate recording of results on required tally sheets and proceedings were often interrupted while returning officers awaited guidance from headquarters. A subsequent heavy security presence at those centres coincided with reports of raids on two facilities in Kabwe and an armed attack on one in Lusaka that removed result forms.
Hichilema entered office in 2021 after Zambia had defaulted on its debts with inflation exceeding 24 percent. World Bank assessments show the administration has since produced primary fiscal surpluses halved inflation to 7.1 percent by March 2026 and lifted foreign reserves to approximately 6.5 billion dollars. The government restructured more than 90 percent of eligible external debt completing a programme that restored access to multilateral financing and supported projected GDP growth of 4.7 percent annually through 2028.
In a pre-election conversation with the BBC the president recalled the inheritance his government received. “We inherited a broken-down country… the economy was declining” he said. Hichilema has since indicated he will extend the macroeconomic stabilisation measures that defined his first term while addressing persistent cost-of-living pressures still felt by many households.
Botswana President Duma Boko and Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan will join other African leaders at the National Heroes Stadium ceremony in Lusaka on Tuesday where Hichilema will take the oath alongside running mate Mutale Nalumango. Independent civil-society parallel counts broadly corroborated the incumbent’s victory although with narrower margins in some exercises. The inauguration proceeds after the judiciary closed on the final day for filing an election petition citing security concerns.
