Hakainde Hichilema won a second five-year term as Zambia's president, taking 61.4% of the vote against about 38% for his main challenger, Brian Mundubile, according to the Electoral Commission of Zambia.
It is a decisive victory. But it is not a simple endorsement of Hichilema's first term. The election exposed a contradiction at the heart of Zambia's politics: the government can point to a significant economic recovery, while many voters still complain that the recovery has not made everyday life sufficiently easier.
So why and how did Hichilema win?
He gave voters a reason to stick with the recovery
Hichilema came to power in 2021 after Zambia had defaulted on its sovereign debt. His government subsequently negotiated major debt restructuring, restored relations with international lenders and attracted new investment, particularly into the copper industry. Those achievements gave the president a credible argument for continuity.
The political calculation was straightforward: the difficult economic reforms had begun producing results, but voters had not yet seen their full benefits. Hichilema asked them to give him another five years to deliver them. The election result suggests a majority accepted that argument.
Economic gains met an uneasy electorate
Zambia's improving economic indicators did not erase the pressures facing households. The cost of living remained a major campaign issue, and the opposition argued that economic gains were benefiting investors and government finances more clearly than ordinary citizens. That created the central contest of the election. Hichilema was asking voters to judge where the economy was going. Mundubile was asking them to judge where it was now.
Hichilema won that argument. But the 38% received by Mundubile shows that the government's economic story did not convince everyone.
Copper made the choice bigger than one election
Zambia's copper industry sits at the centre of Hichilema's economic strategy. The country is a major copper producer, and rising global demand for the metal has created an opportunity to attract investment and expand production.
Hichilema's government has used that opportunity aggressively. The harder question is what happens next. If copper investment produces higher exports and government revenue but does not generate enough jobs or improve household incomes, the same economic argument that helped Hichilema win could become a vulnerability.
The political issue is therefore no longer simply whether Zambia can attract investment. It is who ultimately benefits from it. That distribution of the copper windfall was a central issue in the election.
Mundubile had the grievance but not the coalition
The opposition had a potentially powerful case. It could point to the cost of living and argue that the economic recovery had failed to reach enough households. But turning dissatisfaction into victory required the opposition to consolidate around a credible alternative. It did not.
Mundubile became Hichilema's main challenger, but the opposition remained divided among competing parties and alliances. That made it harder to turn anti-government sentiment into a single presidential vote. Hichilema therefore benefited from a basic electoral advantage: his opponents did not need to be unpopular for him to win; they needed to be united. They were not.
A clear result, but a contested political environment
The vote itself was largely peaceful, but the process was troubled. The Electoral Commission temporarily suspended counting after violence against election officials and the theft of ballot papers. Several opposition figures were also arrested around election night. The government said the arrests were linked to national-security threats; opposition figures disputed that account.
The EU Election Observation Mission went further, identifying an unequal campaign environment. Its preliminary statement found that Mundubile did not receive direct speech on the national television and radio outlets it monitored during the campaign.
That matters because Hichilema's victory has two separate dimensions. Electorally, it is clear. Institutionally, questions remain about the conditions under which the election was contested. Those two facts can exist at the same time.
What now for Hichilema?
The first term allowed Him to point to the crisis he inherited. The second term removes that political shield. He now has to answer for the economy himself. The immediate priorities are clear: turn debt restructuring and investment into stronger growth, expand employment and ensure that the benefits of copper reach beyond the mining sector.
His government has also expanded social provision, including free secondary education, giving voters some direct evidence of policy delivery, the next five years will be higher.
Zambians will not simply ask whether the economy is more stable than it was in 2021. They will ask whether their incomes, jobs and living standards have improved because of that stability.
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!