Brief
Skip to main content Skip to navigation Close dialogue 1 / 4 Next image Previous image Toggle caption Print subscriptions Search jobs Sign in Eur Europe edition UK edition US edition Australia edition International edition The Guardian - Back to home The Guardian News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Show more Hide expanded menu News View all News World news UK news Climate crisis Ukraine Environment Science Global development Football Tech Business Obituaries Opinion View all Opinion The Guardian view Columnists Cartoons Opinion videos Letters Sport View all Sport Football Cricket Rugby union Tennis Cycling F1 Golf US sports Culture View all Culture Books Music TV & radio Art & design Film Games Classical Stage Lifestyle View all Lifestyle Fashion Food Recipes Love & sex Health & fitness Home & garden Women Men Family Travel Money Search input google-search Search Support us Print subscriptions Search jobs Holidays Digital Archive Guardian Licensing Live events About Us The Guardian app Video Podcasts Pictures Newsletters Today's paper Inside the Guardian Guardian Weekly Crosswords Wordiply Corrections Tips Search input google-search Search Search jobs Holidays Digital Archive Guardian Licensing Live events About Us World Europe US news Americas Asia Australia Middle East Africa Inequality Global development Supporters of the president, Hakainde Hichilema, campaign in Lusaka, Zambia. Photograph: Anita Reed/AP View image in fullscreen Supporters of the president, Hakainde Hichilema, campaign in Lusaka, Zambia. Photograph: Anita Reed/AP Zambia Zambia elections haunted by ghost of incumbent president’s arch-rival Hakainde Hichilema is bidding for second term, but feud between him and family of Edgar Lungu, who died in 2025, continues Rachel Savage Thu 13 Aug 2026 06.00 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google As Zambians go to the polls, the ghost of the current president’s predecessor hangs over the elections. Hakainde Hichilema, 64, is bidding for a second term leading the southern African country after defeating his arch-rival Edgar Lungu by a landslide in 2021. A feud between the two men, their families and supporters has dominated Zambian politics, to the extent that the quarrel has continued even after Lungu died in South Africa in June 2025. Zambia’s government went to court to try to stop the burial of Lungu by his family, who did not want Hichilema presiding over a state funeral. In June, South Africa’s supreme court of appeal ruled in favour of Lungu’s family, overturning a previous high court decision in favour of the government. View image in fullscreen Edgar Lungu and his wife at a rally in Lusaka in 2015. Photograph: Rogan Ward/Reuters In this election, Hichilema is facing the Tonse Alliance of opposition parties led by Brian Mundubile, 55, who was a government chief whip under Lungu. Mundubile’s running mate Makebi Zulu acted as the Lungu family’s spokesperson during the burial row, and on the campaign trail the two men have promised to bring Lungu’s body back to Zambia for a dignified burial. The way death is dealt with is very important in Zambia, said Christopher Vandome, a senior research fellow at the thinktank Chatham House. “Even Hichilema supporters want to see due respect given to those that have died,” he said. “When it appears things get messy, it just makes the incumbent look disrespectful.” The shadow of Lungu has also hung over allegations by the Tonse Alliance that Hichilema has deployed authoritarian tactics during the election campaign, including raiding its offices and detaining 36 members of Mundubile’s team. Hichilema’s team furiously denied the claims, invoking Lungu’s treatment of Hichilema during the last election. “Zambians know what repression looks like. In 2021, the opposition leader [Hichilema] had been arrested 15 times, Prime TV [a private station] and the Post [a newspaper] had been shut down, and on election day the internet was switched off,” said a spokesperson for the ruling United Party for National Development. “Today the opposition campaigns freely across all 10 provinces, no media house has been closed and the airwaves are open.” View image in fullscreen Brian Mundubile, the main opposition challenger, waves to supporters as he leaves a radio station in Lusaka. Photograph: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Transparency International Zambia monitors have recorded incidents of police interrupting opposition rallies, said Tamika Halwiindi, a coordinator at the organisation. “Disruptions from the police citing issues to do with safety have been noted to be more biased against the opposition and independents, as opposed to … the ruling party,” she said. During Hichilema’s term, activists have also reported having peaceful demonstrations shut down. Mputa Ngalande of the Fight Inequality Alliance said he was among a group detained for more than 12 hours in July 2024 when they were protesting against the state power company during a period of 22-hour-a-day blackouts. Vandome said: “[Hichilema’s] prospects of winning are very high. But his … personal lived experience of how complicated Zambian elections can be has given him this insecurity which is actually counting against him … denting his image in a way he doesn’t have to.” skip past newsletter promotion Free newsletter | Weekly Sign up to The Long Wave Nesrine Malik, Micha Frazer-Carroll and the team guide you through the biggest Black stories from around the world Enter your email Sign up after newsletter promotion Zambia’s economy has stabilised since an economic crisis, which was triggered when it defaulted on its debts in 2020 under Lungu. Annual inflation is now 6.5%, compared with 24.6% in July 2021. The government made primary and secondary education free in 2022. View image in fullscreen Supporters of Hakainde Hichilema and the United Party for National Development gather at a campaign rally in Lusaka. Photograph: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Meanwhile, Zambia has attracted more international investment in recent years due to its huge deposits of copper, a key material in green technologies. At the start of the month, in a giveaway to young voters, Hichilema, also known by his initials HH and nickname Bally (a slang word for an elder), told a crowd of jubilant university students that he was increasing their accommodation allowance by 50% with immediate effect. However, the cost of living could still count against Hichilema in the elections, in which almost 8.8 million registered voters will also choose MPs and local councillors. The average annual income rose from $1,127 to $1,318 between 2021 and 2025, according to World Bank data . But prices almost doubled over the same period. “What people are asking is: ‘If we are doing well economically, why are we not feeling impact on the ground?’” said Ngalende. “Because you will find on the ground that it is very difficult to access three meals a day.” Explore more on these topics Zambia Africa news Share Reuse this content Most viewed Most viewed World Europe US news Americas Asia Australia Middle East Africa Inequality Global development News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning Sign up for our email About us Help Complaints & corrections Contact us Tip us off SecureDrop Privacy policy Cookie policy Tax strategy Terms & conditions All topics All writers Newsletters Digital newspaper archive Bluesky Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Threads TikTok YouTube Advertise with us Search UK jobs Tips Accessibility settings Work with us Back to top © 2026 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. 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