President Hakainde Hichilema has been re-elected for second five-year term after securing 60% of the valid votes cast, the electoral commission has announced. Hichilema’s win was widely expected, with his closest challenger Brian Mundubile getting 38% of the votes. The remaining 12 candidates trailed far behind. Some 5 million votes were cast in the election. Zambia, home to 22 million people and Africa’s second-largest copper producer, has a long record of peaceful transfers of power through the ballot box. Every change of president since the return to multiparty politics in 1991 has been achieved through elections.