2026 elections: The poll that left Zambia divided

2026 elections: The poll that left Zambia divided

…Questions over vote counting, interference and disputed results have left a cloud hanging over the country’s democratic credentials

IT is difficult to erase the belief from opposition parties who contested in the just ended August 13 poll that the election was stolen in broad day light.

Further, it remains a dream that what they perceive as transgressions which included soldiers taking over the electoral process was indeed an illusion.

Yet on ascending to power in 2021, the United Party for National Development UPND), reeling from a 23-year stretch as an opposition group made it clear from the onset  that the status quo would hang around for a long time.

The plan was there. First the administration embarked on the destruction of the new opposition, the Patriotic Front (PF), arrested a core of members including some leaders. Some were taken to court and jailed and a few have survived.

The next step was to dismember the party through the Registrar of Societies and took along some officials as alliance partners. May be satisfied that the PF was obliterated, the next move was to pour threats and proclamations.

The country was told that the UPND would not easily be pushed out of power after such a long time in opposition.

Reacting to a PF pledge of Ukubwelelapo pa mupando, returning to the throne, the opposition was told, Baka bwelela pesa twalikalapo kale meaning where they will return because we have already occupied the seat.

Another threat was that of going someone’s back and strangle the victim.

Then came what the new captains of the ship termed reforms. New laws were rolled out some of them which citizens have expressed displeasure about. The judiciary was shaken along with police and other institutions.

By the time the government was hitting three into four years in power, the general complaint was that the judiciary, police service, parliament had allegedly been compromised.

People complained about what they called selective justice and one sided arrests mostly allegedly targeting those with divergent views or were linked to the former ruling party. On its part, the UPND insisted that the system was following wrongdoers of either today or yesteryear.

The greater killer was the infusion of Bill 7, it was vehemently resisted as like its predecessor Bill 10 under the PF, but the UPND using all manner of power prevailed amid claims that some opposition members in the House may have been coerced to support the controversial bill.

In almost all the five years since the UPND ascendency to power, opposition complained that they had not been allowed by police to hold public meetings. The people’s police either allegedly denied permits for one reason or another or allegedly disrupted their meetings.

Then the campaigns came. The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) provided the guidance and the calendar. Opposition parties again complained of police interference which included allegedly blocking road shows which police maintained were not part of the campaign schedule.

What was more depressing was the violence against members of the opposition, which has been well documented. Further complaints were that police appeared to have a soft hand on the perpetrators, which were believed to be members of the ruling party.

The incidents enveloping the electoral process which included allegations of process interference by the Zambia Army Special Unit called Commandos, suspension of vote counting by the ECZ, stolen ballot boxes from polling station are a dent on Zambia’s credibility.

Transparent International Zambia (TI-Z) flagged a sample of 32 constituencies that emitted glaring irregularities from unsealed ballot boxes delivered to totaling centres from polling stations, failure or delays to issue critical Gen 20 forms, miscalculation of candidate’s votes and sending Gen 20 to the totaling centre in Lusaka before announcing at a polling station.

Several observers from the European Union (EU), SADC or the United Nations (UN) did not have very good things to say about Zambia’s 2026 general elections. Barely hours to voting day , Zambia Army Special Forces raided the residence of leading opposition candidate Brian Mundubile in what they called an operation to smoke out militia. Mundubile who was abducted with the family, said he was missed by a bullet but some people were believed to have been killed. By Tuesday, several members of the Tonse Alliance were in detention.

Mundubiule and supporters have rejected the outcome of the election, which he insists he won. The summary to all the above is that the UPND long planned never to leave power at least in 2026.

The questions still troubling the public is that the time the counting was suspended and monitors chased away what really happened? Does it explain why those who had been announced lost at polling stations emerged winners at the totaling centre? Does it explain why in some constituencies the figure scored by some candidates was far higher than that of the registered voters? Does it answer to the many of claims circulating in videos online purporting to show open altering of figures on the forms?

Does it give an idea that in the Sothern Province, Western and North Western where it was understood that there was voter apathy but candidates there later emerged with extremely high votes not in tandem with the population or registered voters in these areas? With all the above transgressions, how do the people who believe that the election was stolen change their mind? It appears impossible.

What has shocked Zambians further is the audacity of altering figures in full view of stakeholders. Where was the credibility of this election? Does it qualify to be called an election at all? What legacy will Zambia be held in if this exercise, which many have described as a sham should stand? Is this what the country has   degenerated into from a beacon of democracy in the continent to a laughing stock?

At test is the credibility of the poll, which has been heavily criticized. Also lost credibility is the ECZ whose independence is now under question. Maybe it is time Zambia looked at how the ECZ should be constituted. Certainly members should not be presidential appointees.

What perhaps may frighten Zambians is the prospect of the survival of democracy under the circumstances otherwise those who think the election was stolen may be difficult to convince to reverse the mindset.

Hicks Sikazwe is author of Zambia’s Fall-back Presidents, Wasted Years and Voters in Shadows. A former Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Times of Zambia. He is Communications and Media Affairs Advocate based in Ndola. Comments 0955/0966929611 or hpsikazwe@gmail.com.