Photo: Zambia Reports The BBC's Stephen Sackur put the UPND's Hakainde Hichilema on the grill asking him why he should contest elections again after having lost five times.
On his tour of London Hichilema appeared on the world popular Hard Talk program where put his grievances with the electoral process before the whole world.
Sackur asked Hichilema if he was going to run for elections despite having lost elections five times in a process, "the whole world fairly acknowledges as free and fair."
"Whether I am going to run again is not the point, the point is we are concerned about the process under which these elections are held... anyone is free to run including myself," he said.
"How many times have I gone to court? We are calling for a fair process."
The seasoned presenter said that if President Edgar Lungu wanted to kill Hichilema he would have easily done that.
Sackur said, "with due respect if he wanted to kill you, he could have killed you. Clearly the intention was not to kill you."
Hichilema decried the conditions under which he was jailed and held in solitary confinement in the first eight days of his arrest.
The UPND leader said that the arrest should never have happened in the first place and alleged that accusations and trumped up charges against his followers were the order of the day in Zambia.
Sackur asked Hichilema was he had continued throwing salvos at President Lungu despite having committed to dialogue.
"In some countries, you might still be languishing in prison. Why are you making such a fuss about this whole episode? The United States undersecretary Linda Greenfield congratulated President Lungu, the British High Commissioner, and President Jacob Zuma meaning the election was fairly credible?"
Hichilema said that the country should wait for the court to rule on whether President Lungu is eligible to contest the 2021 general elections.
Hichilema is in the United Kingdom after being invited to give a speech at Chatham House.
