Hakainde Hichilema has won Zambia’s 2021 presidential election in a landslide victory defeating ruling party candidate Edgar Lungu as previously projected by Povo News
The Electoral Commission of Zambia Chairman, Esau Chulu announced Hichilema’s victory at a briefing early on Monday, 16 August 2021 in the capital, Lusaka.
With results from 155 of the 156 constituencies counted, Hichilema has 2,810,757 votes (57,86%) and Lungu is a distant second with 1,814,201 votes (37,34%) an unassailable lead of 996 556 votes.
Zambia’s president-elect Hichilema, 59 contested five times in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015, and 2016 before winning the 2021 election under the United Party for National Development (UPND).
Hichilema was born in a village in the Monze District of Zambia on 4 June 1962, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business Administration at the University of Zambia in 1986 and later on an MBA in Finance and Business Strategy at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
The married father of 3 served as CEO of both Coopers and Lybrand Zambia (1994–1998) and Grant Thornton Zambia (1998–2006). He is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and according to reports he is the second-largest cattle rancher in Zambia.
For live updates to Zambia’s 2021 presidential election results which were held on 12 August 2021 to elect the President and National Assembly visit our live election tracker.
Lungu, who came to power in 2015, previously declared the August 12 general election not free and fair citing violence against his party’s polling agents in 3 provinces.
The move was seen by many as an attempt to hold onto power and was immediately dismissed by the Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG), the European Union, and Hichilema’s UPND.
Hakainde Hichilema a short biography
- Born on 4 June 1962 in Monze District, Zambia
- BA in Economics (University of Zambia, 1986)
- MBA in Finance and Business Strategy (University of Birmingham)
- CEO of Coopers and Lybrand Zambia (1994 – 1998)
- CEO of Grant Thornton Zambia (1986 – 2006)
- United Party for National Development (UPND) leader since 2006
- Contested and lost presidential elections in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015, and 2016
- Arrested on 11 April 2017 and charged with treason and released on 16 August 2017
- Won Zambia’s 2021 presidential election with 59,02%
- Zambian President (24 August 2021 – present)
