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The scale of the victory sparked celebrations, which meant that there would be no second round runoff.
Business tycoon and opposition leader Harkand Hitchlema defeated the current President Edgar Lungu and was declared the winner of Zambia’s highly competitive presidential election.
After 155 of the 156 electoral districts reported, the official results on Monday showed that Hichilema received 2,810,757 votes, while Lungu’s 1,814,201 votes were against.
“Therefore, I declare Hakaned Shirime the President of the Republic of Zambia,” the chairman of the Eso Zhu Rongji Committee said in a televised speech.
After an election spoiled by sporadic violence, this major victory triggered street celebrations.
Hichilema was the former CEO of an accounting firm before entering politics, and he faced the difficult task of reversing the economic fortunes of one of the world’s poorest countries.
Al Jazeera reporter Haru Mutasa reported in the capital Lusaka that many voters are young people.
“They said this was a protest vote, a protest against hope, and a protest against change,” she said.
This election marked the sixth time that Hickelma ran for the top post and the third time he challenged the 64-year-old current Lungu.
In 2016, he lost to Lungu by a small margin of approximately 100,000 votes.
Lungu, who has been in office for six years, faces voters’ dissatisfaction with the rising cost of living in the southern African country and the suppression of dissidents.
Hitchlema won the support of 10 opposition parties in the vote on Thursday, and his banner is Zambia’s largest opposition party, the United National Development Party (UPND).
Before announcing the winner, Lungu started yelling, claiming that the election was neither free nor fair, because violence has traditionally been reported in Hickelma’s stronghold.
In a statement issued through the office of the president, he claimed that voting agents of his party were attacked and expelled from the polling station.
Officials from the UPND party in Hichilema rejected Lungu’s statement because people “try to abandon the entire election just to keep their jobs.”
Legally speaking, if Lungu wants to resolve the dispute or cancel the election, he must file a complaint with the Constitutional Court within seven days after the winner is announced.
International election observers praised the transparency and peace of the voting organization, but condemned the restrictions on freedom of assembly and movement during the election campaign.
The security forces prevented Hichilema from conducting election campaigns in multiple areas on the grounds of violating coronavirus measures and public order laws.
The voter turnout rate is estimated to be slightly higher than 70%.
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