There is a renewed sense of optimism in Zambia as its newly-elected leader, Hakainde Hichilema takes office today after an election victory hailed as a rare triumph over authoritarianism and a milestone in African democracy.
Hichilema, 59, will take the oath of office before a crowd that will notably include opposition politicians from regional countries as well as current and former African leaders.
In his sixth attempt, Mr. Hichilema defeated the incumbent Edgar Lungu, 64, by almost one million votes. Analysts opined that the landslide victory was spurred by economic hardship and restricted freedoms under the previous regime.
Africanews reports that voter turnout on the August 12th, 2021 presidential election pool was nearly 71 percent, and many Zambians queued late into the night to cast their ballots.
Lungu and his rival were neck-and-neck in both the 2015 snap election and the 2016 polls but unsustainable infrastructure spending that plunged the copper-rich southern African nation of over 18 million inhabitants into debt default negatively affected the incumbent’s popularity in this year’s election.
Hichilema, fondly known as “HH” or “Bally”, an informal term for father has vowed to clean up the mess and woo back spooked investors.
Authoritarian leaders “might learn a couple of lessons from this” Zambian economist Grieve Chelwa said.
But he warned that the Zambian scenario could also have the “perverse effect” of encouraging African “tyrants” to “rig harder”.
There is consensus among analysts and observers that Lungu tampered with the ballot, citing intimidation tactics and more voters registered in opposition strongholds.
“It was a poor-quality election that was manipulated in a number of ways” political scientist Nic Cheeseman said.
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