By Chris Mfula and Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
LUSAKA (Reuters) -Former Zambian President Edgar Lungu died on Thursday at the age of 68 at a medical centre in South Africa, his political party the Patriotic Front said.
Lungu was head of state of the Southern African country between 2015 and 2021, when he lost an election to long-time opposition leader and current President Hakainde Hichilema.
“The former president, who has been receiving specialized treatment in South Africa, died today on Thursday, 5th June,” the Patriotic Front’s statement on Facebook said.
The party also posted a video on Facebook of Lungu’s daughter Tasila Lungu, a member of parliament in Zambia, announcing his death.
“My father… had been under medical supervision in recent weeks. This condition was managed with dignity and privacy,” she said.
Lungu took over the presidency in 2015 after the death of then-president Michael Sata. He then won a presidential election that put him in office from August 2016 until August 2021.
The former lawyer’s previous roles included justice and defence minister.
After his electoral defeat in 2021, Lungu went into retirement, then made a political comeback in 2023, eventually being accepted as the leader and presidential candidate for the alliance including the Patriotic Front.
But in December last year, Zambia’s constitutional court ruled that he was ineligible to run for another term in office.
(Reporting by Chris Mfula and Chiwoyu Sinyangwe;Additional reporting by Siyanda Mthethwa, Sfundo Parakozov, Alessandro Parodi, and Tim Cocks; Writing by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Alexander Winning)
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