Zambia’s Hichilema wins second term as president

After a race marred by allegations of fraud.

Results released by the election commission in the early hours of Tuesday morning demonstrated that Hichilema received roughly 60 percent of valid votes, compared with ⁠38 percent for his main challenger, Brian Mundubile.

It was Hichilema’s seventh run for the presidency and he was widely expected to win due to the advantages of incumbency, while it was Mundubile’s first bid to become head of state.

After a relatively quiet run-up to the August 13 ⁠vote, tensions escalated swiftly.

On the night of the election, ⁠authorities arrested 11 people including leading opposition figures in a raid that involved an exchange of gunfire, while Mundubile was present.

The next day, the electoral commission suspended vote-counting for hours due to ⁠reports of violence against polling staff and the theft of ballot papers.

Mundubile noted he had received information ⁠about the feasible alteration of results forms from ⁠polling stations and urged an urgent independent investigation,

Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema ⁠has won re-election for ⁠a second term, according to the electoral commission. Hichilema’s camp said he was lying.