Status: 08/16/2021 4:59 a.m.
Zambia has a new president. In the sixth attempt, the businessman Hichilema was elected into office. Despite large copper deposits, Zambia has massive economic problems.
Opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema won the presidential election in Zambia, South Africa. The election commission declared the 59-year-old businessman the election winner. “I am therefore declaring Hichilema President of Zambia,” said the chairman of the electoral commission, Esau Chulu, in the capital Lusaka after counting 156 of the 157 constituencies.
Hichilema prevailed with more than 2.8 million votes against the incumbent Edgar Lungu, who has been in office since 2015, who only got a good 1.8 million votes. Around seven million citizens were eligible to vote. Hichilema had run for the sixth time and was supported by an alliance of ten parties. He is not considered corrupt and strong in leadership. “We need a breath of fresh air, we need a new visionary leadership,” he recently demanded.
Lungu was president for six and a half years. In the previous election in 2016, Lungu narrowly won against Hichilema. However, its popularity ratings had recently fallen due to the ailing economy and rising cost of living.
Arguments before the election
Zambia has fundamental problems, the country is desperately poor. A good 60 percent of people live below the poverty line. Zambia is one of the largest copper producers in the world. Mining and agriculture are the main pillars of the economy – and yet the economic crisis could hardly be any deeper. Zambia went bankrupt last November. This is not only due to the global drop in copper prices, but also to mismanagement, corruption and nepotism.
There had been massive tensions in Zambia before the election. Lungus Patriotic Front (PF) supporters fought violent clashes with supporters of Hichilema’s United Party for National Development (UPND). Lungu then dispatched the military – a move that critics saw as an attempt to intimidate.