LUSAKA, Zambia – Zambians voted on Thursday in a national election that will test whether President Hakainde Hichilema’s economic gains since a pandemic-era debt crisis are enough to win him a second term.
Analysts say Hichilema, 64, is favoured to win due to the advantages of incumbency and a fractured opposition, although his main rival, first-time presidential candidate Brian Mundubile, has drawn large crowds.
Hichilema took office in 2021 and steered Zambia through a debt restructuring and recovery after it defaulted on its sovereign debt in 2020. He said his priority now was development.
“We have embarked on reforms that are delivering results … even under challenges such as the debt that we inherited,” Hichilema told reporters after voting at a school in the capital, Lusaka. “But there’s a lot more to be done.”
The southern African country is the continent’s second-largest copper producer after Democratic Republic of Congo and is of strategic interest for its critical minerals, with China already a major investor in the sector and the United States seeking to expand its access.
Earlier this year negotiations over U.S. health funding of up to $2 billion stalled after Zambia said Washington wanted to tie the money to mining deals.
The country of 22 million people is voting in presidential, parliamentary and local government elections simultaneously. Polls were due to close at 6PM with results expected on Monday.
Addressing the media at his home after voting, 55-year-old Mundubile said he was confident he would win.
“This is a revolution. Zambians have decided. The will of the Zambian people will certainly prevail in this election,” he said, adding that if elected he would focus on reducing poverty and addressing human rights abuses.
Many Zambians say they are struggling with the cost of living, which analysts see as Hichilema’s main weakness in the poll, despite economic indicators having improved.
The International Monetary Fund projects Zambia’s economy as growing 4.3 percent this year from 3.8 percent last year, foreign investment has picked up, and inflation is at its lowest level in years.
But whether those gains have reached ordinary Zambians is a point of contention. The Zambia Statistics Agency found that 60 percent of the population was living in poverty at the time of its last survey, in 2022.
“I have just come from firing someone. We are tired of stories about economic progress,” said Samuel Chitendwe, a 47-year-old welder and father of four who said he voted for Mundubile.
Both major candidates said the election was largely peaceful, although some voters complained of long delays. Mundubile said some polling stations had opened late in Northern Province and that voting could go into the night.
The lead-up to the vote was marred by allegations of political repression, although the government denied this.
Zambia is rated as “partly free” by U.S. non-profit group Freedom House, which says that although there are regular multi-party elections, opposition parties face “onerous legal and practical obstacles to fair competition”.
A presidential candidate must receive more than 50 percent of votes cast in order to win in the first round, or face a run-off between the top two contenders.
If the presidential vote goes to a second round the run-off must be held within 37 days of the first poll. – Reuters
