Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema is declared the winner of a troubled election

President Hakainde Hichilema was declared the winner with about 60% of the vote amid a tense election that saw counting briefly suspended, violence at polling stations and a raid with arrests and gunfire.
Hichilema campaigned on economic recovery after Zambia’s 2020 debt crisis—claiming stabilization and pledging to more than triple copper output by 2031.
Zambia’s huge copper reserves make the result geopolitically important, drawing strong Chinese investment and growing U.S. interest in critical minerals.