Zambia's President Hakainde Hichilema has been re-elected for second five-year term after securing 60 per cent of the valid votes cast, the electoral commission announced.

Hichilema's closest challenger Brian Mundubile got 38 per cent of the votes. The remaining 12 candidates trailed far behind.

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Hichilema, 64, first came to power in August 2021. The member of the United Party for National Development (UPND) is Zambia&039;s seventh president.

Zambians cast votes on August 14. Under the country's electoral system, a candidate needs more than 50 per cent of the vote to win in the first round, avoiding a runoff.

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.

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

He said the election showed that Zambia was a nation 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 UPND party flooded the streets of the capital, Lusaka, to celebrate after the results declaration.