Zambia’s Former President Edgar Lungu Dies at 68

Former President Edgar Lungu of Zambia died on Thursday at a medical center in South Africa, where he was receiving treatment, his political party, the Patriotic Front, and his daughter announced. He was 68.

In a video posted on the party’s Facebook page, Tasila Lungu Mwansa said her father “had been under medical supervision in recent weeks.” She did not elaborate.

Mr. Lungu was the sixth president of his Southern African nation, holding office from 2015 to 2021, when he lost a race for re-election. His time in office was characterized by ambitious infrastructure spending, which ballooned the national debt, and fears of eroding political and press freedoms, as the government used emergency powers to control unrest.

After his 2021 election defeat by the current president, Hakainde Hichilema, Mr. Lungu retired, but he later attempted a political comeback as the leader and presidential candidate for an alliance that included the Patriotic Front.

In December last year, Zambia’s Constitutional Court ruled that Mr. Lungu was ineligible to run for another term as president because he had already been elected to the office twice, despite the fact that his first election was for a partial term lasting just 19 months.

Some analysts said the ruling resulted from an abuse of power by Mr. Hichilema, who had removed from the high court three justices who had ruled against him in the past.

Despite the court decision, Mr. Lungu remained active in Zambia’s politics, continuing to influence the nation’s political landscape.

Zambia has been a multiparty democracy since 1991, with peaceful transfers of power between opposing powers. A poor, sparsely populated and landlocked country that won independence from Britain in 1964, it has an economy that relies heavily on copper mining and extraction of other natural resources.

Mr. Lungu was born on Nov. 11, 1956, in Ndola, a city in central Zambia’s Copperbelt region. He became a lawyer and later entered politics, winning a seat in the National Assembly in 2011. He served as justice and defense minister under President Michael Sata.

After Mr. Sata died, Mr. Lungu won the presidency in a special election in 2015, and then won a full term in 2016, both times narrowly defeating Mr. Hichilema.

When Mr. Lungu ran again in 2021, critics accused the Patriotic Front party of improperly trying to manipulate the result in his favor, citing voter registration irregularities that swelled the voter rolls in areas where the party was strong, attempts to stifle independent news outlets, and voter intimidation.

Even so, Mr. Hichilema won decisively.

Members of Mr. Lungu's party paid him tribute after the news of his death.

“We are all devastated,” said Given Lubinda, the acting party leader. He added, “We appeal to all members to mourn the gallant leader in peace and in honor.”

Despite his long and heated rivalry with Mr. Lungu, Mr. Hichilema called for unity, saying, “Let us come together as one people, above political affiliation or personal conviction, to honor the life of a man who once held the highest office in our land.”