Kasonde drops citizen election petition as Zambia enters decisive post-poll week

Kasonde drops citizen election petition as Zambia enters decisive post-poll week Zambia begins a new week with one proposed challenge to the August general election now abandoned, while the country waits to see whether Brian Mundubile will proceed with his separate presidential…

Kasonde drops citizen election petition as Zambia enters decisive post-poll week

Zambia begins a new week with one proposed challenge to the August general election now abandoned, while the country waits to see whether Brian Mundubile will proceed with his separate presidential petition.

Prominent lawyer and civil society advocate Linda Kasonde, who had been exploring a citizen-led challenge to the election, has told stakeholders that efforts to build the case have ended because sufficient evidence could not be assembled within the required period.

“It appears that we do not have enough evidence to proceed with the petition challenging the just ended general elections as all efforts to get the Petition off the ground have not succeeded,” Kasonde said in a communication circulated among stakeholders.

Her withdrawal matters because concerns over the election have not gone away. The EU Election Observation Mission reported weaknesses in parts of the results tabulation process, while the Christian Churches Monitoring Group has identified statistical discrepancies in 30 constituencies and called for greater transparency from the Electoral Commission of Zambia.

CCMG has been careful to draw a line under how far those findings go. The group has said the discrepancies it identified do not change the overall winner of the presidential election, even as it presses ECZ to release the underlying polling-station records for independent verification.

Kasonde is now redirecting her energy from overturning the election to the framework that governs future ones.

“Going forward, we hope to shift our focus towards electoral reform challenging decisions, measures and laws taken in the run-up to the August 2026 election,” she said.

Attention now returns to Mundubile. He has rejected the presidential result and has previously said his team gathered evidence for a Constitutional Court challenge. His position has increasingly diverged from figures within the political structure that backed his candidature. Ezra Tembo, NRPUP president, has accepted President-elect Hakainde Hichilema’s victory, while Tonse founder and secretary-general Chris Zumani Zimba has said he will not support a petition.

The clock is running regardless of that internal split. Hichilema was declared president-elect on 18 August after securing 2,965,326 votes against Mundubile’s 1,856,217, a margin of 1,109,109. On the constitutional timetable being applied, the seven-day window for challenging the presidential election expires on Tuesday, 25 August.

A separate but related story is playing out away from the courts. Police have summoned Mundubile and his running mate Makebi Zulu for questioning over alleged links to activities authorities say concern national security. Both men have been staying at the premises of an international organisation in Lusaka. Neither has been convicted of any offence, and Mundubile has firmly rejected government claims linking his camp to an alleged militia.

The new week therefore opens with Zambia edging closer to a political and constitutional resolution, even as key questions remain unsettled. Kasonde’s proposed petition is off the table, and her focus has already shifted to longer-term reform. Mundubile’s challenge, by contrast, remains only an intention until it is formally filed, and the security investigation around him continues in parallel.

Tuesday now stands as the date that decides which of two paths Zambia takes next: another court battle over the presidency, or a final, uncontested road toward Hichilema’s inauguration.