Former Zambian president Edgar Lungu. (Roberto Paquete/ AFP)
- Former Zambian president Edgar Lungu will have to go through a full trial before he can get on the 2026 presidential ballot.
- Youth activist Michelo Chizombe argues that Lungu was sworn into office twice and so should not have been on the ballot in 2021, when he lost.
- Lungu failed to get the matter dismissed before the Constitutional Court and so it’s set for a single judge trial.
It will take a full trial to determine if former Zambian president Edgar Lungu is eligible to stand again, that country’s Constitutional Court has decided.
Lungu hopes to be on the 2026 presidential ballot again, and had hoped to achieve that without more, protracted legal action.
But the merits of the case must be heard, the Constitutional Court said. That will now see youth activist Michelo Chizombe make his argument that Lungu has reached the term limit, and so cannot stand again.
Lungu of the Patriotic Front (PF) was Zambia’s president between January 2015 and August 2021 until he lost to incumbent Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND).
Lungu has been actively working towards regaining control of the PF, which could give him a good shot at the presidency.
Chizombe, however, says the nature of Lungu’s previous time in office precludes him.
Lungu became president after the death of “King Cobra”, Michael Sata, in October 2014. That left Vice-President Guy Scott the acting president, and saw Lungu serve for only 20 months after he was sworn in on 25 January 2015.
READ | Trumping it: One-term Zambia president Edgar Lungu returns to politics, seeks his party’s nomination
Chizombe argued in court papers that period counts as a term in office, since Lungu was elected and sworn in. If so, Lungu’s second term ran from 2016 to 2021 – and he has hit Zambia’s term limit.
Lungu argues he “inherited” a presidential term from Sata and that it should not count.
Well ahead of the 2021 elections, political parties such as the Christian Democratic Party led by Daniel Pule, Zambia Republican Party of Wright Musoma, Peter Chanda’s New Congress Party and Robert Mwanza’s Citizens Democratic Party petitioned the Constitutional Court to allow Lungu to stand in 2021.
Part of their argument was that Lungu is referred to as the “sixth” Zambian president, while Scott is not counted.
Having heard both sides of the argument on Tuesday, the Constitutional Court resolved that the matter should go to full trial.
“The matter is sent back to the single judge to schedule the petition for hearing. Each party will bear their own costs,” the 11-member Constitutional Court Bench declared.
The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
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Publish date : 2024-07-10 13:54:13