Zambia's president wins second term with 60% of the vote

Zambia's President Hakainde Hichilema has been re-elected for a second five-year term after securing a 60% share of the vote, the electoral commission has announced.

Hichilema's win was widely expected, with his closest challenger Brian Mundubile getting 38% of the votes cast. The remaining 12 candidates trailed far behind.

The result came after a contested process, with 55-year-old Mundubile earlier claiming victory and alleging, without providing evidence, that there had been voting irregularities.

It also followed the arrest of some leading opposition figures in a raid on Friday who the authorities accused of plotting an insurrection. Mundubile called the claim a fabrication.

In statement after being declared the winner, Hichilema, 64, said: "We are truly humbled by the trust you have placed in our hands."

He said the election showed that Zambia was a place of peace, law and order and a "democratic nation that settles our differences at the ballot box, and nowhere else".

"To those citizens who preferred the ideas presented by our opponents, we hear you, and we will continue to work for you," he added.

Hundreds of Hichilema's supporters, dressed in the red colours of his United Party for National Development (UPND) flooded the streets of the capital, Lusaka, to celebrate after the results declaration.