UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has congratulated the government, people of Zambia and the electoral authorities on the conduct of the general elections.

Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said this while briefing correspondents at the UN headquarters on Monday in New York.

The UN correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Dujarric as saying, “the secretary-general congratulates the Government on the conduct of the 12 August general elections.

“The overall peaceful conduct of the elections is a clear testament to the continued commitment of the Zambian people to upholding Zambia’s democracy, peace and stability.

“The United Nations will continue to support the Government and the people of Zambia in their efforts for a democratic, stable and prosperous country.”

Zambia’s presidential election results on Monday showed that the opposition leader, Hakainde Hichilema, secured a stunning landslide victory over incumbent, Edgar Lungu.

The electoral commission said Hichilema got 2,810,777 votes against Lungu’s 1,814,201, with all but one of the 156 constituencies counted.

In a packed results centre in the capital Lusaka, Esau Chulu, electoral commission chairman, said “I, therefore, declare Hichilema to be president of Zambia.”

This would make the third time that power has shifted peacefully from a ruling party to the opposition since the southern African country’s independence from Britain in 1964.

Across Zambia, celebrations broke out in the streets as Hichilema’s supporters wearing the red and yellow of his United Party for National Development (UPND) danced and sang.

Hichilema, 59, a former CEO at an accounting firm before entering politics, now faces the task of trying to revive Zambia’s fortunes.