29th Jan 2015 In Zambia, Edgar Lungu has been sworn in as Zambia’s 6th President. The new President who ran under the banner of the Patriotic Front won after a tightly contested battle with Hakainde Hichilema of opposition, United Party for National Development.
The new president received 48.3 percent of the vote, while Hakainde Hichilema came in second with 46.7 percent. The votes were tallied from all one hundred and fifty constituencies in the country, according to acting Chief Justice Lombe Chibesakunda and President Lungu was announced winner on the 24th of January and will complete the term of President Michael Sata who died in October last year
At his inauguration, President Lungu is quoted as saying “I am humbled eternally and debted to you all, my fellow citizens, the bottom line is that we want the country to go forward and to banish poverty in our midst.”
The new President has already started work though and is making quite a few moves. To maintain economic and policy stability, President Lungu is retaining finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda and foreign minister Harry Kalaba.
He has appointed former gender minister Inonge Wina, as the country’s first female vice president. She will replace former Vice President Guy Scott, who was very briefly, in his position as Zambia’s acting President, Africa’s only white leader.