By The Zambian Economist Analyst

Former Lands and Natural Resources Minister Sylvia Masebo has denied speaking to any journalist, media house or blogger since 13 August, the day Zambians voted in the general election, and has dismissed social media reports suggesting she is opposed to the Government.

Speaking to ZNBC News, Ms Masebo said her decision to petition the Chongwe East parliamentary election should not be interpreted as opposition to the Government or to the ECZ. The challenge, she said, rests on her concerns about the Chongwe East result.

She added that she remains supportive of the UPND administration, citing her role in campaigning for President Hakainde Hichilema and in the party’s victory at the polls.

What Masebo is responding to

The denial follows a wave of posts attributing critical remarks to her. In a statement reported by Lusaka Times on 22 September, Ms Masebo, a member of the UPND Senior Management Committee, said social media was “heavily laden with falsehoods, disinformation and manipulated content” aimed at UPND members, and at former cabinet ministers in particular. She said any content attributing statements to her since the election was fabricated, and suggested some of it was meant to drive a wedge between the President and ministers who served in his first term.

ZNBC also carried her denial of posts claiming she had described the ECZ as the country’s most corrupt institution.

The Chongwe East petition

The ECZ declared Anita Kamanga winner of Chongwe East on 15 August with 16,058 votes. Ms Masebo, the UPND’s candidate, polled 6,798. Ms Kamanga stood as an independent after contesting the UPND primaries without being adopted, a split Ms Masebo publicly raised with President Hichilema in July when she asked him to clarify who the party’s official candidates in Chongwe were.

In the petition, case number 2026/HP/EP/014, Ms Masebo alleges breaches of the Electoral Process Act and the Electoral Code of Conduct. According to Zambia Monitor, her grounds include publications stating that she had lost the UPND adoption process and branding her “a thief”. She is asking the court to declare the election void and order a fresh poll. Ms Kamanga denies the allegations.

The ECZ, named as second respondent, argues that voting, counting, tallying and declaration were conducted in substantial compliance with the Constitution, the Electoral Process Act and the Code of Conduct. It says the burden is on the petitioner to prove that any irregularity affected the result, and that general allegations are not enough to overturn the choice of voters.

Is filing an election petition a political act?

Legally, no. Article 73 of the Constitution gives any person the right to challenge the election of a Member of Parliament in the High Court, and requires the petition to be heard within 90 days of filing. Ms Masebo has framed her case in those terms.

Politically, the picture is less tidy. Lusaka Times counted 30 parliamentary petitions filed by 1 September, several by candidates from the ruling party, including former Mines Minister Paul Kabuswe in Chililabombwe. Some UPND figures have openly criticised colleagues for taking losses to court, while Sunday Chanda withdrew his Kanchibiya petition, citing the doubled Constituency Development Fund that followed delimitation.

Why it matters beyond Chongwe

Election petitions carry a public cost. If the court nullifies the result, the ECZ would have to fund and run a by-election in Chongwe East, and the constituency’s representation, including the MP’s seat on its Constituency Development Fund committee, would stay unsettled until a new member is sworn in. For a peri-urban farming constituency on Lusaka’s eastern edge, that matters for how quickly CDF projects move.

The wider question for the Government is whether a string of disputes by its own candidates, amplified by fabricated posts online, distracts from the second-term economic agenda. Ms Masebo’s statement is an attempt to close that gap in her own case.

What happens next

The High Court will hear evidence from both sides and rule on whether the alleged breaches were serious enough to affect the outcome. Either party can appeal to the Constitutional Court. Until then, Ms Kamanga remains the Member of Parliament for Chongwe East.

Related reading: UPND’s Akashambatwa: Colleagues’ Election Petitions Are “Abusing the Courts”, Sunday Chanda Withdraws Kanchibiya Election Petition, Cites Doubled CDF From Delimitation and Zambia Courts Closed as Mundubile Election Petition Deadline Arrives.

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The Electoral Commission of Zambia has validated the forty National Assembly proportional representation nominees, completing the final piece of the new Parliament’s composition. The nominees appeared before Returning Officer Mrs. Mwangala Zaloumis, SC, who chairs the Commission, at Mulungushi International Conference Centre on 18 September 2026.

The validation clears the last procedural hurdle before the PR members take their seats alongside the directly elected members and the five MPs nominated by President Hakainde Hichilema. It also lands exactly on the timetable set earlier this month, when the National Assembly gave the ECZ until 17 September to name the proportional representation MPs.

What happened at Mulungushi

Each of the forty nominees appeared for validation before the Returning Officer, who confirmed their eligibility under the law governing PR seats. The process involved the two political parties that qualified for National Assembly PR seats: the National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity (NRPUP) and the United Party for National Development (UPND).

By validating the party nominees, the Commission has now implemented the provisions of the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act No. 13 of 2025, which introduced the forty PR seats in the National Assembly and proportional representation seats in councils as prescribed.

Why Zambia now has PR seats at all

The 2025 amendment moved Zambia toward a mixed member proportional system: voters still elect constituency MPs directly, but an additional layer of seats is filled from party lists in proportion to each party’s national support. We explained the mechanics in detail in How Zambia’s Mixed-Member Proportional Representation System Works.

The design intent is twofold. First, it gives parties with nationally spread but locally thin support a route into Parliament. Second, the Act reserves space for groups that struggled to win constituency seats, which is why the party lists have drawn close attention from civil society groups since the amendment passed.

What it means for Parliament’s arithmetic

With only two parties qualifying, the PR block of 40 will be shared between the UPND and NRPUP. For the ruling party, whose landslide win already delivered a commanding majority of constituency seats, the PR seats pad the margin further. For NRPUP, the seats provide a national platform and a voice in committee work that its constituency performance alone would not have delivered.

The practical effect is legislative. Budget approvals, constitutional amendments and ministerial oversight all become smoother for the executive when the government bench is this large. The check on that power now rests less on numbers and more on the quality of debate, the courts and institutions such as the Auditor General.

What to watch next

Watch the swearing-in of the PR members and the committee assignments that follow, since those posts determine where the new members actually exert influence. The PR seats in councils, also created by the Act, will follow their own timetable. And one chamber dispute remains live: the Mandevu constituency votes again on 24 September after the totalling centre attack, which will add one more member to the house.

What this means for you

For taxpayers: 40 more MPs means 40 more salary and gratuity bills, office budgets and staff. The cost of the expanded Parliament was debated when the Act passed and will resurface in budget debates.

For opposition politics: NRPUP’s presence shows smaller parties can reach Parliament through the list route, which may change how parties campaign in 2031.

For policy watchers: a larger government-friendly house means scrutiny depends on the few independent voices, the courts and your vote at the next election.

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By The Zambian Economist Analyst

Munsanje was among the elected members Speaker Nelly Mutti swore in at Parliament Buildings in Lusaka on 8 September, as the National Assembly worked through the roughly 224 constituency and nominated seats returned from the 13 August general election. The exercise followed Vice President Mutale Nalumango’s own oath a day earlier, which formally opened the chamber’s 2026-2031 term.

A second term for Mbabala’s UPND MP

Munsanje represents Mbabala, a 12-ward constituency in the northern part of Choma District in Southern Province. He first won the seat for the UPND in 2021, succeeding a line of MPs that includes Emmanuel Hachipuka and Ephraim Belemu, both of whom also sat for the party. Tuesday’s oath returns him for a second term after the 13 August general election, in which President Hakainde Hichilema was also re-elected.

Parliament’s own biographical record lists Munsanje’s qualifications as a Grade 12 certificate, a Bachelor of Social Work, an MPhil in Development Studies and a Certificate in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, with a professional background as a development specialist and social worker. He was born on 14 February 1973 and is married.

A constituency left intact by this year’s boundary review

Mbabala’s borders were a live question earlier in 2026. During February’s delimitation sittings, stakeholders adopted a model that created a new Choma South constituency by dividing neighbouring Choma Central, an arrangement that left Mbabala intact. The distinction matters locally: Choma South’s first MP, Trevor Mwiinde, was sworn in this week too, but Munsanje’s own constituents kept the same ward boundaries and Constituency Development Fund allocation they had going into the election.

That continuity carries into the new term’s priorities. Mbabala’s local economy is predominantly agricultural, and the constituency’s CDF allocation has previously supported health infrastructure alongside the roads, schools and water projects typical of rural Southern Province seats. What Munsanje’s second term adds to that record is now the practical test facing his constituents.

What comes next

The National Assembly’s swearing-in continues over several sittings before members proceed to elect a Speaker and hear the presidential address that formally opens the legislative programme for 2026 to 2031. Munsanje joins a UPND caucus that returned with a substantial majority of the roughly 224 seats declared following the 13 August poll.

Related coverage

• Mwiinde Sworn In as Choma South MP, Renews Call to Respect Election Outcomes
• Jacqueline Sabao Sworn In for Second Term as Chikankata MP
• HH Widens Gap to 225,971 Votes as ECZ Confirms 105 Constituencies

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Trevor Mwiinde raised his right hand and took the oath of office as Member of Parliament for Choma South on 8 September, one of 112 MPs sworn in at Parliament Buildings in Lusaka by Speaker Nelly Mutti. Choma South is a new constituency, carved out in the 2025 delimitation exercise, and Mwiinde’s swearing-in formally closes out a contest he had already spent the past three weeks talking about from the other side of the podium: as UPND deputy national youth chairman urging losing candidates elsewhere to accept theirs.

“Let us respect the outcome”

Speaking on One Love Radio in Lusaka days before his own swearing-in, Mwiinde had appealed to candidates who lost Zambia’s 13 August general election to let the process stand. “With due respect, let us respect the outcome of the immediate past elections and give the newly elected Members of Parliament an opportunity to serve,” he said.

He was speaking directly to the backlog of election petitions that losing candidates have filed against the results, and he singled out one group he wants protected from the disruption: newly elected youthful and female MPs, who he said should be allowed to work, serve their constituents and deliver on their mandates without “unnecessary distractions.”

Inside the petitions backlog

The numbers explain why Mwiinde felt the appeal was necessary. Once the 14-day window to file after the 13 August vote closed, 67 parliamentary election petitions had landed in Zambia’s High Courts, touching close to 30% of the 224 parliamentary seats the Electoral Commission of Zambia declared. Lusaka High Court alone is carrying 41 of them. Losing candidates cite grounds ranging from vote buying to defamation and political violence.

Zambian electoral law gives an MP whose election is challenged the right to keep the seat while the petition runs its course, and it requires each case to be heard and determined in open court within 90 days of filing. That timeline means most of the current backlog should be resolved by early December, but it also means dozens of newly elected MPs are governing under a live legal cloud for their first months in office. Not every petition survives that long: Kanchibiya’s Sunday Chanda withdrew his own challenge this month, citing a doubled Constituency Development Fund allocation that followed from the same delimitation exercise that created seats like Choma South.

A crowded day of oaths

Mwiinde was in good company on 8 September. The Speaker also swore in Jacqueline Sabao for a second term as Chikankata MP, Kakubo for a third term as Kapiri Mposhi West MP, Romeo Kangombe for a third term as Sesheke East MP, and independent MP Iris Kaingu for the Mwandi seat. For Mwiinde, a first-time MP taking up a constituency that did not exist at the last election, the day carried a different weight: it was both his own first appearance on the order paper and, in his telling, evidence that the process he had been defending on air actually delivers a working Parliament.

What Choma South is asking for

Mwiinde used his first remarks as MP to lay out what the constituency needs rather than dwell on the campaign. He pointed to farmers who depend on dams for gardening and livestock and struggle through drought years, and pledged to push for better road networks and the reopening of the dormant Masuku railway line to support animal husbandry in the area. On social infrastructure, he was blunt: “Choma South, Choma Rural has never had a hospital,” and the constituency has no mortuary and only one government secondary school. He said he would lobby for a hospital, mortuary facilities and a tertiary technical training institution.

Why it matters beyond Choma South

A parliamentary term that opens with roughly a third of its seats under legal challenge is not, on its own, a governance crisis: the law anticipates exactly this scenario and builds in a fixed clock to resolve it. But it does mean donors, investors and civil servants dealing with the new intake in Southern Province and elsewhere should expect some MPs’ authority to carry an asterisk until their petitions clear, and it puts a premium on the courts meeting the 90-day deadline rather than letting cases drift. Mwiinde’s appeal, echoed by other UPND figures since the election, is as much about protecting the functioning of the Ninth Assembly as it is about individual seats.

Related coverage

• Jacqueline Sabao Sworn In for Second Term as Chikankata MP
• Kakubo Sworn In as MP for Kapiri Mposhi West, His Third Parliamentary Term
• Sesheke East’s Romeo Kangombe Sworn In for a Third Term, Says Development “Has No Finish Line”
• Independent MP Iris Kaingu Takes Mwandi Seat: What Her Win Means for Western Province’s Economy
• Sunday Chanda Withdraws Kanchibiya Election Petition, Cites Doubled CDF From Delimitation
• The Economics of Zambia’s 2026 Election
• 2026 Zambia Election Results Dashboard

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Related: Joseph Munsanje Sworn In for Second Term as Mbabala MP

By The Zambian Economist Analyst

Sabao was among the elected members Speaker Nelly Mutti swore in at Parliament Buildings in Lusaka on 8 September, as the National Assembly worked through the roughly 224 constituency and nominated seats returned from the 13 August general election. The exercise followed Vice President Mutale Nalumango’s own oath a day earlier, which formally opened the chamber’s 2026-2031 term.

A second term after a continuity campaign

Sabao, who represents Chikankata District in Southern Province, first won the seat for the UPND in 2021. She opened her re-election campaign in April on a message of continuity, telling residents she wanted to “continue from where we have stopped,” and closed it in August with a Sunday appeal built around farming, youth opportunities and community participation.

Her campaign did not publish new project budgets or specific targets for a second term, a gap this publication noted at the time. Tuesday’s swearing-in starts the clock on delivering whatever detail follows.

Sabao’s statement on taking office

Marking the oath, Sabao framed the day as the start of a new phase of responsibility rather than the end of the campaign.

“This moment marks the beginning of my responsibility to represent the people of Chikankata in Parliament and to contribute to national law-making, oversight and discussions on matters affecting our constituency and our country. I accept this responsibility with humility and a firm commitment to serve our people.”

She said the campaign period was now behind her and pointed to three priorities for the term ahead: listening to communities, representing their priorities, and engaging government on Chikankata’s development needs.

“My responsibility is to ensure that the voices of our people are heard in the National Assembly and that the issues affecting our communities receive the attention they deserve. I know that parliamentary representation must ultimately be measured by what it delivers for the people.”

Sabao said she intends to work with traditional leaders, government institutions and “all stakeholders who share the desire to see Chikankata move forward,” describing the term ahead as a shared undertaking rather than a personal mandate.

What comes next for Chikankata

Chikankata is a single constituency of 14 wards roughly 68 kilometres from Lusaka, and its local economy depends heavily on agriculture. The Constituency Development Fund has been the main channel for local projects during Sabao’s first term, and her own account of that period, 85 projects across all 14 wards, has not been independently itemised in public reporting.

Sabao was previously recognised with the Nelly Mutti Outstanding Woman MP Overall Award, according to the National Assembly of Zambia. What her second term adds to that record, in schools, roads, water points and agricultural support that reach Chikankata’s wards, will be the practical test of Tuesday’s promises.

The National Assembly’s swearing-in continues over several sittings before members proceed to elect a Speaker and hear the presidential address that formally opens the legislative programme for 2026 to 2031.

Related coverage

• Sabao makes Sunday appeal for another term in Chikankata
• HH Widens Gap to 225,971 Votes as ECZ Confirms 105 Constituencies
• Zambia Holds Its Breath: What the Wait for a Presidential Declaration Means for Business

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Related: Mwiinde Sworn In as Choma South MP, Renews Call to Respect Election Outcomes

Related: Joseph Munsanje Sworn In for Second Term as Mbabala MP

By The Zambian Economist Analyst

Stanley Kakubo stood in the National Assembly chamber this week and took the oath of office for a constituency that carries his name on the ballot for the third time running, though its boundaries are new. Kapiri Mposhi West did not exist in its current form until the Electoral Commission of Zambia’s delimitation exercise redrew the old Kapiri Mposhi seat ahead of the August 2026 general election, splitting it into Kapiri Mposhi West and Kapiri Mposhi East.

Kakubo, standing for the ruling United Party for National Development, polled 8,509 votes against independent candidate Jackline Nkausu’s 2,932, according to the returning officer’s declaration reported by Lusaka Times. Berlington Mubanga of the National Restoration Party for Unity and Prosperity took 2,858 votes, and independent Kelvin Muyowe took 1,024. Out of 15,966 votes cast in the constituency, 643 were rejected. UPND’s strength in the area went beyond the parliamentary contest: the party won 16 of 18 local government seats across both Kapiri Mposhi constituencies.

Third term, new boundaries

Kakubo first entered Parliament in 2016 as MP for Kapiri Mposhi, at a time when UPND sat in Opposition under Hakainde Hichilema. He held the seat again in the 2021 election that brought Hichilema and UPND to power, and was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation shortly after. The 2026 delimitation then split his old constituency in two, and voters in the western half returned him for a third term under the new name.

Delimitation changes like this one are easy to miss next to the presidential race, but they reshape who sits in the National Assembly and how safe an incumbent’s margin really is. A minister who has spent a decade building a base in one constituency does not automatically carry that base into a redrawn one. Kakubo’s result, a win by more than 5,500 votes, suggests the boundary change did little to dent his standing in the area.

Why a minister needs his own seat

Zambia’s Cabinet is drawn from sitting members of the National Assembly, so a minister who loses their constituency loses their ministry with it. Kakubo’s win removes that risk for at least the next five years and lets him continue as the country’s top diplomat without an interruption tied to a parliamentary by-election. For a ministry currently managing Zambia’s relations with creditors, regional blocs and investors, that continuity is not a small detail.

What Kakubo said

In a statement after the ceremony, Kakubo described the oath as “more than a constitutional requirement,” calling it “a solemn promise to serve with integrity, courage and dedication.” He framed the win as part of a longer arc rather than a single victory: “Three elections. Three mandates. But one enduring purpose: to serve the people and my Country.”

That framing will be tested less by ceremony than by delivery. Kapiri Mposhi West inherits the development backlog of the old constituency, from road and health infrastructure to the market access questions that shape rural incomes in Central Province. Whether a third mandate translates into faster progress on those fronts is the question voters in the new constituency will be asking long after the flowers from this week’s swearing-in have been cleared from the chamber.

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Related: Mwiinde Sworn In as Choma South MP, Renews Call to Respect Election Outcomes

Romeo Kangombe took the oath of office this week as Member of Parliament for Sesheke East, the third time he has been sworn in to represent the Western Province border area since he first won the seat in 2019. His swearing-in falls in the same week Zambia’s Fourteenth National Assembly formally convened, with Vice-President Mutale Nalumango and MPs from across the country taking their oaths for the 2026 to 2031 term.

A redrawn seat on the Namibian border

Kangombe’s win this term comes with a change to the map itself. The Electoral Commission of Zambia announced 70 new constituencies in April 2026, lifting the national total from 156 to 226 seats. The old Sesheke constituency was one of those split, into Sesheke West and Sesheke East, each electing its own MP and drawing its own Constituency Development Fund allocation from this term onward. Kangombe stood, and won, in the eastern half.

From a contested by-election to a third term

His first term did not begin quietly. Kangombe won the old Sesheke seat in a February 2019 by-election that the Patriotic Front’s Dean Masule challenged in the High Court, alleging violence and undue influence across six of the constituency’s nine wards. Judge Gertrude Chawatama dismissed the petition, finding no evidence that Kangombe had personally participated in or consented to the misconduct, and ruled that “the will of the people of Sesheke was expressed through the number of votes which Kangombe amassed.” He held the seat again in 2021, and now for a third time in 2026, running under the UPND banner in a general election his party’s presidential candidate won by a wide margin. Hichilema took 60.49% of the presidential vote against Mundubile’s 37.87%, on a turnout of 57.23% of Zambia’s 8.79 million registered voters.

What continuity means for Sesheke East

For a border constituency, an unbroken run of representation carries a practical dimension separate from the politics of it. Sesheke East’s economy rests on cross-border trade with Namibia through the Sesheke-Katima Mulilo corridor, cattle rearing, and Zambezi floodplain farming, areas where continuity in Parliament can mean an existing pipeline of Constituency Development Fund projects keeps moving rather than stalling while a new MP builds relationships with line ministries from scratch.

Business and policy implications

Investors and traders with interests in Western Province’s cattle, agriculture or cross-border logistics sectors should treat Kangombe’s return, rather than his party’s national majority, as the more relevant local signal: an MP who already knows the constituency’s project backlog can move faster on the specifics than one starting a first term.

Kangombe’s own message

Kangombe marked the moment on his own Facebook page rather than in a formal statement, thanking “the good people of Sesheke,” the UPND and President Hichilema “for the opportunity to serve with him again,” alongside his family and what he called his “lean effective campaign team.” He described the new term as “continuation from where we ended,” adding: “Development has no finish line until we die.” Whether that continuity translates into faster project delivery for Sesheke East residents is now a matter for this term’s CDF disbursement records, not this week’s oath.

Related coverage

• Independent MP Iris Kaingu Takes Mwandi Seat: What Her Win Means for Western Province’s Economy
• Sunday Chanda Withdraws Kanchibiya Election Petition, Cites Doubled CDF From Delimitation
• Emoluments Commission Congratulates Hichilema and Nalumango on Re-Election
• Hichilema’s Second Term: What It Means for Zambia’s Economy, Markets and Diplomacy

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Related: Mwiinde Sworn In as Choma South MP, Renews Call to Respect Election Outcomes

By The Zambian Economist Analyst | Lusaka | 2 September 2026

What Akashambatwa said

Reacting to the petitions filed by his own party colleagues, Akashambatwa did not mince his words. “What is there to petition in an election which was deemed free and fair?” he said, in comments shared with The Zambian Economist. “While it is your right to file a petition, at this point you are abusing the courts.”

Akashambatwa is a United States-based UPND figure known for commenting publicly, and often bluntly, on matters inside his own party. His target here is not Brian Mundubile’s opposition NRPUP. It is the string of UPND members who lost their own seats on 13 August and have since gone to court to try to overturn the result.

The petitions he’s talking about

By 31 August, six parliamentary results were before the Lusaka High Court, as The Zambian Economist reported at the time. Paul Kabuswe, a former minister, was challenging his loss in Chililabombwe on the Copperbelt. Sylvia Masebo, also a former minister, was challenging her defeat in Chongwe. Sunday Chanda, who had publicly conceded his Kanchibiya seat just two weeks earlier, reversed course and petitioned it too. Four of the six petitioners ran on the UPND ticket.

The list has since grown well beyond those six. Lusaka Times reported roughly 30 parliamentary petitions filed at the Lusaka and Livingstone High Courts by 1 September, reaching constituencies including Ndola Central, Mwandi, Nchanga, Nkana, Kalabo South, Bangweulu, Siavonga and Zambezi Central. That scale, not any single case, appears to be what prompted Akashambatwa’s comment.

A more careful line from the party

UPND’s own leadership has been notably less dismissive. Deputy spokesperson Elvis Nkandu told News Diggers that the party had not instructed any losing candidate to petition, and pushed back on the idea that the petitions say anything about one-party rule. Elections chairperson Likando Mufalali went further, saying there is no guarantee any petition will succeed and that each will be decided on its own merits.

That gap between one senior member’s public irritation and the party’s official neutrality is itself part of the story. It suggests Akashambatwa is speaking for himself, not for UPND as an institution. Kabuswe, Masebo and Chanda had not publicly responded to his remark at the time of publication.

What the petitioners are alleging

The petitions are not simply a record of disappointment. According to Lusaka Times, petitioners have cited malpractice and non-compliance with the Electoral Process Act, vote-buying, violence and intimidation at polling stations, and irregularities in how some results were counted and announced. Under the Constitution, a parliamentary petition must be filed within seven days of a seat’s declaration, and the High Court has 90 days from filing to decide it. Either side can appeal to the Constitutional Court within seven days of judgment.

Why it matters beyond the courtroom

None of the pending petitions threaten UPND’s hold on power. The party won 160 of the National Assembly’s 278 seats against 76 for Mundubile’s NRPUP, a margin no handful of by-elections could close. What the petitions do cost is time and money: court registries occupied for months, sitting MPs administering Constituency Development Fund allocations while their own election is under review, and, for any constituency where a petition succeeds, a fresh campaign and a by-election bill on top of a result voters thought was settled.

For now, the more immediate cost is political. A week into Hichilema’s second term, a senior figure in his own party is publicly telling other members of that party to drop their cases, while UPND’s official spokespeople are choosing their words rather more carefully.

Related reading

• Six Parliamentary Seats Challenged Before the Lusaka High Court
• Sunday Chanda Concedes Kanchibiya Seat, Defends His Bill 7 Vote in Farewell Statement
• Hichilema Takes the Oath as His Second Term Begins at National Heroes Stadium
• Ten Days That Tested Zambia: Hichilema’s Re-election, Sealed Courts and a Cooling Inflation Rate

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Related: Masebo Denies Speaking to Media Since Election Day, Says Chongwe East Petition Is Not Opposition to Government.

Zambia’s 2026 election result gives President Hakainde Hichilema a clear mandate to take the country’s economic transformation into its next phase. With 2,965,326 votes against Brian Mundubile’s 1,856,217, the result is decisive enough that the President’s attention can now shift from campaigning to delivery.

The first term was built around repair. Debt restructuring, fiscal consolidation, lower inflation and the slow rebuilding of investor confidence dominated the agenda, after Zambia entered office in 2021 facing a sovereign default and a currency in freefall. Those were necessary, technical fixes, and by most measures they worked.

The second term carries a different test. Macroeconomic stability is not something most Zambians experience directly, jobs, incomes and the price of everyday goods are. The government’s task now is to convert the stability it has built into outcomes people can feel: more jobs, higher earnings and stronger purchasing power for households that have spent five years absorbing the cost of adjustment.

Where the next five years should focus

Three areas stand out. Value addition in mining and agriculture would let Zambia capture more of the earnings from its own resources rather than exporting them raw. Expanding manufacturing and improving energy security would address two of the constraints businesses raise most often. And strengthening local participation, in procurement, in supply chains, in ownership, would help growth reach beyond the largest firms.

A bloc that cannot be ignored

Mundubile’s 1,856,217 votes are not a footnote. They represent a significant share of the electorate with economic concerns of their own, on jobs, on the cost of living, on regional development. A second term built only for the President’s existing base of support would miss the scale of that vote. Practical interventions that reach those constituencies, not just political messaging aimed at them, will matter for how the term is judged.

The real scorecard

GDP growth and investment announcements will make headlines, but they are not the measure that counts. The measure is whether an ordinary Zambian family notices the difference, in what they earn, what they can afford and what opportunities are open to their children. The first term was about repairing the economy. The second must be about making that repair visible in daily life.

Related coverage

• Hichilema Wins Zambia’s 2026 Election in a Landslide as ECZ Declares Outright Victory
• Zambia’s Election Count Signals a Strong Mandate…..But the Economic Test Comes After

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Related: Beyond the Ballot, Zambia Turns the Page to Economic Delivery

Zambia’s incumbent president, Hakainde Hichilema, has won re-election outright. The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) declared the result early on Tuesday, saying the United Party for National Development (UPND) leader had passed 2.9 million valid votes, more than 50% of the national total, meeting the constitutional bar for a first-round win.

ECZ chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis announced the outcome at the National Election Results Centre in Lusaka, more than four days after polls closed on 13 August. A handful of constituencies had yet to report at the time of the declaration, the commission said, but their results would not change who holds State House for the next five years.

How the count unfolded

The margin was already decisive before the formal declaration. With 192 of the country’s 226 constituencies announced on Monday, Hichilema had polled 2,430,702 votes against 1,461,457 for his closest rival, Brian Mundubile of the National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity (NRPUP), a lead of 969,245 votes.

Hichilema built his lead on commanding margins in Southern, Western and North-Western provinces, including a near sweep of his home turf in the south, while Mundubile ran strongest on the Copperbelt and in Muchinga and parts of Eastern Province. Turnout across the declared constituencies stood at roughly 57.8%, below the near 70% recorded in the 2021 election.

Counting was briefly suspended on 14 August after reports of violence against polling staff and theft of marked ballots at some stations, before resuming under tighter security. The delay stretched the tally beyond the pace of the 2021 count, when Hichilema’s win over then-president Edgar Lungu was confirmed within two days.

A contested backdrop

Mundubile’s campaign has disputed the trajectory of the count, citing its own parallel vote tabulation and alleging irregularities, including claims that military personnel controlled tallying centres in Mufulira and that result forms went missing in parts of North-Western Province. The ECZ has not upheld these claims and says the declared result stands.

International observer missions covering the poll flagged concerns about the fairness of the campaign environment ahead of the vote, including unequal access to state resources and media. Those concerns have not been shown to affect the vote count itself, and the ECZ says the outstanding constituencies will not alter the outcome.

Economic backdrop to a second term

Hichilema, 64, takes his second mandate on the back of a difficult but improving economic record. He inherited an economy in default in 2021, after Zambia became the first African country to miss Eurobond payments during the pandemic, and has since pushed through a debt restructuring under the G20 Common Framework alongside fiscal consolidation that helped the kwacha rank among the world’s better-performing currencies over the past two years.

His government has paired that consolidation with expanded social spending, introducing free basic education, wider bursaries and funding for tertiary and vocational training, and steadier support for elderly welfare programmes. Hichilema, among Zambia’s wealthiest individuals, has not drawn a presidential salary since taking office in 2021 and has continued to use his family home rather than State House as his residence.

Business implications

• Policy continuity: a second Hichilema term signals continuity on the mining fiscal regime, debt management and the IMF-backed reform programme, reducing near-term policy risk for investors already committed to Zambia.
• Currency and rates: continued fiscal discipline supports the case for a stable kwacha, though markets will watch the Bank of Zambia’s next moves on interest rates and inflation once the political transition settles.
• Mining and energy: expect continuity in copper sector policy, with implications for mining investment plans and power sector reforms tied to the country’s electricity deficit.

Investor implications

• Sovereign risk: a clear, uncontested constitutional outcome, once the outstanding constituencies are confirmed, is generally supportive of Zambia’s Eurobond spreads and its standing with the IMF programme.
• Watch points: how the government responds to opposition allegations of irregularities, and whether observer concerns about the campaign period feed into longer-term governance ratings.

Public and policy implications

• A second term extends the government’s runway to deliver on free education and bursary commitments at scale, with implementation and funding questions likely to dominate early post-election scrutiny.
• Pressure will build on the government to address the cost of living and the power deficit that shaped much of the campaign, alongside its debt restructuring commitments.

What happens next

The ECZ said it would complete tallying and verification of the outstanding constituencies in the coming days, with the formal gazetting of results and presidential inauguration arrangements to follow the standard constitutional timetable. The Zambian Economist will update this article as the commission confirms the remaining results.

Conclusion

Hichilema’s win extends a reform mandate built on debt restructuring and currency stability into a second term, against a backdrop of opposition allegations and observer concerns about the fairness of the campaign. For businesses and investors, the immediate signal is continuity; the harder test will be whether that continuity translates into faster progress on the cost of living, power supply and job creation that dominated the 2026 campaign.

Related coverage

• Zambia’s Election Count Signals a Strong Mandate…..But the Economic Test Comes After
• Zambia Holds Its Breath: What the Wait for a Presidential Declaration Means for Business
• HH Widens Gap to 225,971 Votes as ECZ Confirms 105 Constituencies
• Zambia Arrests Suspected Militia Members in Kabulonga Raid, Presidential Candidate Mundubile Named at Scene

WARNING! All rights reserved. This material and all other digital content on this website may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior express permission of The Zambian Economist. Where permission is granted, the content must be clearly credited to “The Zambian Economist,” with “www.zambianeconomist.com” prominently displayed.

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Related: Mwandi MP-Elect Iris Kaingu Congratulates Hichilema on Re-Election