Hichilema’s Second Term Must Turn Economic Stability Into Shared Prosperity

The Zambian Economist — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 06:38:05 +0000

By Kelvin Chisanga

Key takeaways

President Hakainde Hichilema won a second term with 2,965,326 votes against Brian Mundubile’s 1,856,217, according to the Electoral Commission of Zambia.
The first term focused on debt restructuring, fiscal consolidation and rebuilding investor confidence.
The second term needs to convert that stability into jobs, incomes and stronger household purchasing power.
Priorities include value addition in mining and agriculture, expanded manufacturing, energy security and greater local participation in the economy.
Mundubile’s 1.86 million votes represent a large bloc of Zambians whose economic concerns the government cannot set aside.

Zambia’s 2026 election result gives President Hakainde Hichilema a clear mandate to take the country’s economic transformation into its next phase. With 2,965,326 votes against Brian Mundubile’s 1,856,217, the result is decisive enough that the President’s attention can now shift from campaigning to delivery.

The first term was built around repair. Debt restructuring, fiscal consolidation, lower inflation and the slow rebuilding of investor confidence dominated the agenda, after Zambia entered office in 2021 facing a sovereign default and a currency in freefall. Those were necessary, technical fixes, and by most measures they worked.

The second term carries a different test. Macroeconomic stability is not something most Zambians experience directly, jobs, incomes and the price of everyday goods are. The government’s task now is to convert the stability it has built into outcomes people can feel: more jobs, higher earnings and stronger purchasing power for households that have spent five years absorbing the cost of adjustment.

Where the next five years should focus

Three areas stand out. Value addition in mining and agriculture would let Zambia capture more of the earnings from its own resources rather than exporting them raw. Expanding manufacturing and improving energy security would address two of the constraints businesses raise most often. And strengthening local participation, in procurement, in supply chains, in ownership, would help growth reach beyond the largest firms.

A bloc that cannot be ignored

Mundubile’s 1,856,217 votes are not a footnote. They represent a significant share of the electorate with economic concerns of their own, on jobs, on the cost of living, on regional development. A second term built only for the President’s existing base of support would miss the scale of that vote. Practical interventions that reach those constituencies, not just political messaging aimed at them, will matter for how the term is judged.

The real scorecard

GDP growth and investment announcements will make headlines, but they are not the measure that counts. The measure is whether an ordinary Zambian family notices the difference, in what they earn, what they can afford and what opportunities are open to their children. The first term was about repairing the economy. The second must be about making that repair visible in daily life.

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