标签： Africa

On a crisp August morning in 2026, hundreds of Zambian voters lined up before sunrise outside polling stations across the country, kicking off a critical general election that carries profound implications for the southern African nation’s political and economic future. More than 8 million registered eligible voters are casting ballots across Zambia on Wednesday to select a new five-year presidential term and members of the national parliament, with polling stations open from 6 a.m. local time through 6 p.m. local time.

Widely viewed as a key benchmark for Zambia’s standing as one of Africa’s most consistently stable democracies, this election unfolds against growing public scrutiny over shifting political freedoms and widespread economic dissatisfaction. Stagnant unemployment and skyrocketing living costs have emerged as the top issues shaping voter choices this cycle, cutting across demographic and regional divides.

At the center of the race is 64-year-old incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema, who is seeking a second and final five-year term after first winning office in 2021 – his sixth attempt at the presidency. Hichilema took office amid a crippling national debt crisis and has overseen a marked macroeconomic rebound during his first term, running on a platform of continued job growth, large-scale infrastructure investment, and steady economic recovery. His campaign has highlighted targeted policy wins, such as the reinstatement of student meal allowances, which have earned him support among younger and urban voter blocs. “I voted for HH because he cares about us,” James Phiri, a 29-year-old University of Zambia student, told Reuters. “Things are better after he re-introduced meal allowances.”

Still, the incumbent faces sharp criticism from voters who argue that broad economic gains have not translated to improved daily life, with inflation and living costs remaining stubbornly high for most working Zambians. His main challenger is Brian Mundubile, a former cabinet minister from the Patriotic Front (PF), the party that held national power from 2011 to 2021. Mundubile leads an opposition alliance anchored by supporters of the late former PF President Edgar Lungu, who died more than a year ago. A bitter, public dispute between Lungu’s family and Hichilema over the former president’s unburied remains – which remain held in South Africa – has amplified partisan tensions and deepened existing political divides across the country.

While 14 candidates appear on the presidential ballot, political analysts broadly frame the contest as a tight two-way race between Hichilema and Mundubile. Voter opinions are deeply split heading into polling day, reflecting the nation’s evenly divided electorate. “Zambians are frustrated and this election is a 50-50, that is why we are all here early to make the change,” 26-year-old Mwiche Nalupumbwe told AFP, after joining pre-dawn queues outside a Lusaka polling station. For opposition supporters like 47-year-old welder and father of four Samuel Chitendwe, who cast his ballot for Mundubile, frustration over unmet economic promises runs deep. “I have just come from firing someone. We are tired of stories about economic progress,” he told Reuters.

Election officials have put in place standard safeguards to prevent electoral fraud, including marking voter thumbnails with indelible ink to block repeat voting, with teams of trained monitors deployed to oversee polling across the country. To win the presidency outright, a candidate must secure more than 50% of the national vote; if no candidate hits this threshold, a run-off election will be held within 37 days of the final result being certified.

France has launched formal internal disciplinary proceedings against its sitting ambassador to the Central African Republic (CAR), Bruno Foucher, following widespread allegations of professional misconduct that have sparked national security concerns, multiple international outlets have confirmed.

The claims against the 65-year-old diplomat, who has held his post in Bangui since 2023, center on incidents alleged to have occurred between January 2024 and March 2025. According to French media reports, Foucher is accused of inviting approximately 30 women to his official diplomatic residence in the CAR capital, with several of the guests reportedly staying overnight. The unsanctioned access to a secure government facility prompted France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs to launch an probe into potential security vulnerabilities linked to the alleged behavior.

A senior anonymous French diplomat confirmed to the BBC that administrative disciplinary procedures against Foucher are currently active and ongoing. Details remain undisclosed regarding the specific scope of the disciplinary process, potential penalties if the allegations are substantiated, or a clear timeline for when the investigation will conclude. The BBC has reached out to the French embassy in Bangui to request an official statement from Foucher or embassy representatives, but no comment has been released to date.

The controversy emerges at a diplomatic turning point for France and the CAR, whose bilateral relations were severely strained in previous years. Just months before the allegations surfaced, during an official visit to Bangui in March 2025, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot publicly celebrated what he called the “complete restoration of relations” between the two nations, marking a key milestone in efforts to rebuild diplomatic ties.

On Thursday morning, long queues of voters wrapped around polling stations across Zambia’s capital Lusaka, kicking off a tense one-day presidential election that will serve as a public verdict on incumbent Hakainde Hichilema’s first term in office. With 8 million registered voters out of the southern African nation’s 22 million total population, citizens are not only selecting their next head of state but also casting ballots for members of national Parliament and local government council seats. The country’s electoral commission has announced that official results will be released by Monday. Before sunrise, voters clad in thick layers to ward off the cool morning chill gathered outside voting locations, many huddling around small homemade fires to stay warm while election workers finalized preparations: arranging sealed ballot boxes, cross-referencing voter rolls, and securing polling stations. International observation teams, including delegates from the European Union, were already on site monitoring the opening process at multiple locations in Lusaka by the time voting commenced.

Hichilema, who first took office after winning the 2021 election, is seeking a second five-year term and faces competition from 10 other challengers. Political analysts widely identify Brian Mundubile, the candidate backed by a coalition of major opposition parties, as the incumbent’s most formidable rival. The election is broadly framed as a referendum on Hichilema’s management of Zambia’s struggling economy. The incumbent has defended his tenure, arguing he inherited a nation on the brink of economic collapse when he took office. During his first term, he oversaw a landmark restructuring of Zambia’s $17 billion foreign debt, the first major African sovereign debt restructuring of the 2020s, and has drawn consistent praise from international investors for his pro-business policy agenda, posting moderate single-digit economic growth in recent years. Hichilema says a second term is necessary to deliver on his long-term promises: creating formal jobs for Zambia’s growing youth population, expanding and upgrading crumbling national infrastructure, and improving access to public health and education services.

But for many ordinary Zambian households, the promised economic recovery has yet to translate into tangible improvements in daily life. Widespread frustration over skyrocketing food prices, persistent high youth unemployment, and chronic rolling blackouts that have disrupted businesses and home life for years has become the core issue driving opposition support. A large share of the electorate says they have not felt the benefits of macroeconomic stabilization, with household budgets stretched thin by ongoing cost-of-living pressures.

Beyond Zambia’s borders, the outcome of the election is being closely watched by global powers and industries, given the country’s status as one of the world’s top copper producers. Copper is a critical input for electric vehicle batteries, renewable energy infrastructure, and modern power grids, and Zambia has set an ambitious target to triple its annual copper output to 3 million metric tons by 2031. China has long been Zambia’s largest single foreign investor, holding extensive stakes in the country’s mining sector, while the United States has increasingly sought to expand its own footprint in African critical mineral supply chains to reduce reliance on Chinese-controlled resources. Hichilema has pursued a balanced diplomatic and economic strategy, actively courting investment from both Chinese and Western partners, including the U.S., to reach his copper production goal.

Tensions have run high in the final stretch of the campaign, with security forces deployed across the country to prevent election-related unrest. Zambian police have added extra patrols around polling stations and issued public warnings against political violence, disruption of voting procedures, and the spread of unconfirmed false results on social media. Opposition groups have levied serious claims against the incumbent administration, alleging that state law enforcement and institutions are being weaponized to target political opponents ahead of the vote. Just days before polls opened, law enforcement agents raided the headquarters of the main opposition Tonse Alliance, a move the coalition calls a deliberate politically motivated attack, allegations the Hichilema administration has repeatedly denied.

Political tensions have been simmering for years in the lead-up to this election. Hichilema, as an opposition leader under former president Edgar Lungu, spent four months in jail on what many observers viewed as politically motivated treason charges before defeating Lungu in the 2021 election. Lungu remained a prominent political force until his death in South Africa in 2023, and a months-long bitter public dispute between Lungu’s family and the Hichilema government over where the former president could be buried further eroded trust between the ruling party and opposition ahead of voting.

Under Zambian electoral law, a presidential candidate must win an absolute majority of more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff election. Even amid pre-election tensions, Zambia holds a long-standing reputation as one of the most stable democracies in southern Africa, with a decades-long track record of mostly peaceful transfers of power. Hichilema’s 2021 victory marked the third time since the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1991 that an incumbent president peacefully handed power to an opposition candidate, a record regional observers say is an important marker of democratic stability in the region.