Sata, 74 and nicknamed “King Cobra” because of his sharp tongue, toned down his rhetoric against foreign mining firms, especially from China, in the closing stages of the six-week campaign but his victory could still cloud the investment outlook.
Zambia’s kwacha fell to a 12-month-low of 5,030 against the dollar after Sata’s victory and traders said it would remain vulnerable until he has given clearer indications on his future policies.
Sata, the leader of the Patriotic Front (PF), told Reuters last week he would maintain strong commercial and diplomatic ties with China and would not introduce a minerals windfall tax, but implied he might impose some form of capital controls to keep dollars in the country.
Chief Justice Ernest Sakala declared Sata the winner after he received 1,150,045 votes compared with Banda’s 961,796 with 95.3 percent of constituencies counted. Sata received 43 percent of the vote also contested by many minor parties.
Rupiah Banda, 74 and leader of the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) party that has run Zambia since one-party rule ended in 1991, was expected to make a statement about the vote.
Supporters of Sata, who will be sworn in as president later on Friday, celebrated the win.
“At long last the will of the people has been respected. The people wanted change,” said street vendor Peter Musonda.