President Hakainde Hichilema has begun a second term in office after being sworn in on Tuesday, bringing Zambia’s 2026 election cycle to a close while leaving unresolved questions about the conduct of the electoral process, the treatment of opposition figures and the resilience of the country’s democratic institutions.
Hichilema, who was elected president in 2021 after defeating the incumbent Edgar Lungu, secured about 60 per cent of the vote in the 13 August presidential election, according to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ). His principal challenger, Brian Mundubile, received about 38 per cent and rejected the result, alleging irregularities in the handling and tabulation of votes.
The inauguration therefore carries a significance extending beyond the beginning of another presidential term. Zambia has long been regarded as one of the more established multiparty electoral systems in southern Africa, having returned to multiparty politics in 1991 and experienced repeated transfers of political power through elections. The events surrounding the 2026 poll have nevertheless raised questions about whether that institutional record can withstand increasing political pressure.
The concerns are not confined to the opposition. Election-observation missions identified shortcomings at different stages of the process, although their assessments were more nuanced than a simple characterisation of the election as fraudulent.
The European Union Election Observation Mission said voters were presented with a competitive choice and that polling day was generally calm. At the same time, it found that late legal changes, legal uncertainty and unequal campaign conditions affected the political playing field. Its subsequent monitoring of the tabulation process recorded a deterioration in transparency after the ECZ temporarily suspended the nationwide counting and announcement of results on 14 August.
The suspension was attributed by the electoral commission to violent incidents involving polling personnel and allegations of ballot-box theft. EU observers said they had not been given sufficient information to establish how widespread or systematic those incidents were.
Regional observers also recorded shortcomings, but their assessments illustrate the importance of distinguishing between problems at particular stages of an election and evidence that an entire vote was illegitimate. The SADC observation mission reported that voting proceeded without irregularity at 92 per cent of the 277 polling stations it observed. It nevertheless recorded problems at some stations, including issues affecting the secrecy of the ballot, voter registers and polling procedures.
The controversy intensified after the election as opposition figures challenged aspects of the process and several were detained.
Mundubile and his running mate, Makebi Zulu, were charged with treason after being taken into custody in late August. Authorities have provided limited public information about the allegations underpinning the charges. The two opposition figures have denied wrongdoing, while their lawyers have said they will contest the allegations through the legal process.
The arrests have become particularly contentious because they occurred against the backdrop of the disputed election and amid broader concerns about the political space available to opposition parties. The authorities have cited national-security considerations in relation to some arrests, while critics argue that the use of serious criminal charges against political opponents risks undermining confidence in the independence of state institutions.
The judicial process has also become part of the controversy. Zambia’s Cabinet Office announced on 25 August that no presidential petition had been received within the constitutionally prescribed seven-day period and consequently confirmed 1 September as the date for Hichilema’s inauguration. The government has maintained that the constitutional process was followed.
The absence of a presidential petition does not, however, resolve the wider questions raised by observers about the electoral environment. Nor does criticism of the process necessarily establish that the presidential result itself was determined by fraud. These distinctions are important in assessing Zambia’s political trajectory without reducing a complex electoral contest to competing claims of legitimacy.
For Hichilema, the circumstances surrounding his return to office present a political challenge that extends beyond winning another mandate. His first term was defined in part by an attempt to restore Zambia’s international economic credibility, including progress on the country’s long-running debt restructuring and efforts to attract investment into mining and other sectors.
Those achievements have contributed to continued investor interest. Zambia’s copper resources, together with its position within regional supply chains for critical minerals, have made the country increasingly important to international investors and to competing economic interests from China, the United States and other partners.
Financial markets have so far appeared relatively unconcerned by the political controversy. Zambia’s international bonds performed comparatively strongly after the election, reflecting expectations of policy continuity and the government’s progress on debt restructuring.
Yet market confidence and institutional confidence are not necessarily synonymous. Investors can continue to price a country favourably while questions remain about the quality of its political institutions. For Zambia, the longer-term issue may therefore be less about whether markets have immediately reacted to the election and more about whether the institutions responsible for regulating political competition retain public credibility.
That distinction matters for an economy whose development ambitions depend on more than mineral wealth. Zambia is seeking to expand copper production, attract investment into energy and infrastructure, strengthen public finances and create greater domestic value from its natural resources. Such objectives require institutional predictability as much as they require foreign capital.
The political debate also needs to be understood within Zambia’s own historical and regional context. Elections in southern Africa have frequently involved disputes over electoral administration, access to state institutions, political finance, media environments and the relationship between incumbents and opposition parties. These challenges are not unique to Zambia, nor are they adequately explained by framing African elections simply as instances of democratic decline.
At the same time, Zambia’s history demonstrates why institutional safeguards matter. The country’s peaceful transitions of power have been an important component of its political identity, and public confidence in electoral institutions has become part of the country’s wider reputation.
The 2026 election has consequently created a test for both government and opposition. For the administration, restoring confidence will require more than pointing to the constitutional conclusion of the electoral process. Greater transparency around disputed incidents, respect for due process and credible avenues for political and judicial scrutiny would help demonstrate that institutions remain capable of operating independently of electoral competition.
For the opposition, the challenge is equally significant. Allegations of electoral misconduct require evidence and lawful mechanisms through which those claims can be tested. Political mobilisation is an essential component of democracy, but the credibility of opposition movements also depends on their ability to distinguish substantiated electoral concerns from claims that cannot withstand scrutiny.
Hichilema’s inauguration therefore marks both a constitutional conclusion and the beginning of another political chapter. His mandate is electorally established, but the legitimacy of democratic institutions rests on a broader foundation than the declaration of a winner.
The president has pledged to govern inclusively, including for citizens who voted against him. Whether the second Hichilema administration can translate that pledge into institutional practice will be closely watched in Zambia and across southern Africa.
For a country whose political stability has often been regarded as an asset, the task now is not simply to move beyond a contested election. It is to ensure that the institutions through which political competition is conducted emerge from it stronger, more transparent and trusted by citizens across the political spectrum.
