LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — Zambia holds an election Thursday to decide if President Hakainde Hichilema will get a second five-year term as reward for his economic recovery plan in the southern African nation that’s one of the world’s top copper producers but was recently mired in a debt crisis.

Zambia defaulted on sovereign debt repayments to China and other nations in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing attention to the unsustainable burdens faced by some developing countries.