Zambian Opposition Leader Hichilema Takes Early Lead in Presidential Vote
Voice of America
LUSAKA - Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema took an early lead in the country's presidential election over long-time rival and incumbent Edgar Lungu, according to first results issued by the electoral commission on Saturday.
Lungu, 64 and in power since 2015, faces a potentially tight contest against Hichilema - known as "HH" - a businessman who has criticized the president's management of an economy in turmoil. Investors are closely watching the outcome of Thursday's election: the southern African country is highly indebted and suffered the continent's first pandemic-era sovereign default in November. International Monetary Fund (IMF) support, already broadly agreed, is on hold until after the vote. So too is debt restructuring seen as an early test of a new global plan to ease the burden on poor countries.
FILE - An EU flag flies beside Switzerland's national flag near the German-Swiss border in Rheinfelden, Germany, March 11, 2019.
People inspect the damage at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted the Shayyah neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs on November 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah.
This combination photo shows Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, left, in Quezon City, Philippines, Nov. 13, 2024, and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Vientiane, Laos, Oct. 9, 2024.
Supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party shout slogans while holding gear snatched from police during their march towards Islamabad demanding Khan's release, in Hasan Abdal in Punjab province on November 25, 2024. Members of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party attempt to throw back teargas shells fired by riot police as they protest during a march to Islamabad demanding Khan's release in Hasan Abdal in Punjab province on November 25, 2024.
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Nov. 25, 2024, a rescue worker puts out a fire of a burned car in the yard of an apartment building damaged by a Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Google LLC is shown at an entrance to one of their buildings in San Diego, California, October 9, 2024.
A rabbi delivers a eulogy next to the coffin containing the remains of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan in Kfar Chabad, Israel, Nov. 25, 2024. Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, was killed last week in Dubai where he ran a kosher grocery store.
FILE - This courtroom sketch by Valentin Pasquier shows Gisele Pelicot and her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, during his trial at the Avignon court house in Avignon, France, Sept. 17, 2024.
A Chinese national flag flutters in front of the HSBC headquarters and the Standard Chartered Building in Hong Kong, Sept. 22, 2020.
Soldiers stand next to detained migrants in Tripoli, Libya, in this photo released on Nov. 25, 2024. (Libyan Army 444th Combat Brigade/Handout via Reuters)
Ma Ying-li, second from right, stands with the crew after winning the Best Narrative Feature award for "An Unfinished Film" at the 61st Golden Horse Awards in Taipei, Taiwan, Nov. 23, 2024. Ma is the wife of the film's director, Lou Ye.