LUSAKA - Zambia's President Hakainde Hichilema won re-election with 60 percent of votes cast last week, the electoral commission announced on Tuesday, after a race critics said was tightly managed by his government.
Thursday's election in the copper-rich nation was largely peaceful but the run-up was tainted by opposition claims of intimidation, arrests, violence and irregularities.
The result was widely expected, with Hichilema -- in power since 2021 -- facing a crowded field of 13 challengers led by a former provincial minister, Brian Mundubile, making his first bid for the presidency.
Mundubile secured nearly 38 percent of the vote, Electoral Commission of Zambia chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis said.
Five of the 226 constituencies had not been tallied, she said. However, "The outstanding results are not likely to materially influence the overall result of that election."
In a statement after his victory was announced, 64-year-old Hichilema said: "We are truly humbled by the trust you have placed in our hands."
He added: "To those citizens who preferred the ideas presented by our opponents, we hear you, and we will continue to work for you."
Hundreds of his supporters wearing the red colours of his UPND party poured onto the streets of the capital Lusaka, singing and dancing in celebration and lighting firecrackers.
On Monday, Mundubile alleged there had been irregularities in the counting, claiming -- without providing evidence -- that documents listing the results had been tampered with, which he said risked the "integrity" of the tally.
"There are also allegations that officials in Southern Province were pressured to modify figures, with some of the alleged communication said to have been made through local government structures," he said in a video message posted on social media.
Hours earlier, his NRPUP party angrily rejected government claims that its members were involved in militia or insurgent activity.
This followed the government's announcement late Sunday that police had arrested 11 people, including six opposition figures, in a raid against "militia activity".
They were "in possession of high-grade military weapons, ammunition and other materials for use in armed insurrection," it said.
The NRPUP said shots were fired in the raid, which took place at Mundubile's home, and a parliamentarian was hit.
It "rejects with absolute disdain the spurious and entirely false claims made by the Zambian Government that the NRPUP, its leadership or its members have been involved in insurgency, militia activity or any related conduct whatsoever," it said.
- AFP