The 60 000-capacity National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka was packed. A sea of red swept across the stands as ruling party supporters sang, waved party flags and cheered. At the centre of the spectacle stood the 64-year-old Hakainde Hichilema, taking the oath of office for a second term as Zambia's president.
But beneath the colour and celebration lay a more complicated political picture. Hichilema enters his second term after securing a decisive victory over his main challenger, Brian Mundubile.
Official results gave Hichilema 60% of the vote, compared with 38% for Mundubile, a margin of more than a million votes.
For Hichilema's supporters, that margin is a clear endorsement from the electorate, and they have used it to urge the opposition to accept the outcome and move on.
But the opposition has continued to question the election, alleging it was stolen. Hichilema's supporters reject those allegations.
That leaves Zambia with an unusual political contrast. The president begins another term with a large mandate, while sections of the opposition remain unwilling to accept the circumstances in which they lost.
In his inauguration speech, Hichilema looked back on the record of his first term and highlighted some of his major achievements. These included the restructuring of Zambia's sovereign debt and the restoration of relations with international creditors, introduction of free education from early childhood through secondary school and the reduction in inflation and stability of the currency.
"We did a lot of heavy lifting in the first term. But there's a lot of more work to be done and this is what this mandate is about," Hichilema said.
On the campaign platform, Hichilema promised to turn macroeconomic stability into tangible improvements that households can feel in their daily lives.
The election result suggests that voters bought into that promise. Now comes delivery.
Treason case
A political and legal issue that could become one of the defining stories of the early part of Hichilema's second term involves some unfinished business from the election.
Mundubile and his running mate, Makebi Zulu, have been arrested and charged with treason. The two are yet to appear in court.
At the inauguration, Hichilema did not directly address the arrests and treason charges facing his political opponents. Instead, he struck a conciliatory note, telling the nation that those who had voted against him should not be regarded as enemies.
"Whatever our political choices, we remain one people," he said.
That message was echoed by Kenyan President William Ruto, who urged Hichilema to govern for the whole country.
"I'm confident that in the new term, you will govern for Zambia, for those who voted for you and those who didn't," Ruto said.
The words from both leaders underscore the challenge facing Hichilema as he begins his second term, turning an emphatic win into leadership that reaches beyond those who supported him.
The treason case is likely to attract considerable public attention when it comes before the courts. Zambians will want to know precisely what the state alleges happened, what evidence it has and how the accused respond to the charges.
But the case carries an added political weight because Hichilema knows what it is like to face a treason charge from the opposition benches.
In 2017, Hichilema was arrested and charged with treason. The charge was one of the most serious moments in his years in opposition. He spent four months in detention before the case was eventually dropped, thanks to local and international pressure.
Nine years later, the political circumstances have been dramatically reversed.
Hichilema is now the president. His political opponents are facing a treason charge of their own. That coincidence has fuelled speculation among some who see the latest case as an act of political revenge.
The government maintains that the case should be treated as a matter for the law, rather than politics. The courts will ultimately have to determine the merits of the allegations.
For Hichilema, however, the political stakes are considerable. How his administration handles dissent and opposition during the second term will be watched closely, both at home and across the region.
The opposition faces its own difficult questions.
Mundubile's defeat was substantial. Losing by more than a million votes leaves little room for the argument that the election was a close contest. But an electoral defeat does not necessarily mean the end of a political movement.
Opposition's next move
The opposition will now have to decide how to respond. It can continue challenging the legitimacy of the election or begin rebuilding and preparing for the next political battle.
That choice will matter not only for the opposition but for the quality of Zambia's democracy.
For Hichilema, the first term gave him the opportunity to campaign on change after 15 years in opposition. His second term gives him the opportunity to demonstrate what he can do with five more years in power.
The stadium offered a powerful image of where Zambia's politics stands today: thousands of supporters dressed in red, and a president basking in the confidence of a decisive triumph.
Unseen here were the detained opposition leaders.
But the harder measure will be what happens after the crowds have gone home, whether the economy delivers, whether ordinary Zambians feel the difference, whether opposition voices are given space and whether the political tensions surrounding the election and the treason case eventually ease or deepen.