The opposition People’s Pact has petitioned the Constitutional Court, seeking an order to halt the implementation of the country’s constituency delimitation process scheduled for April this year, arguing that the exercise is illegal and unconstitutional.
In its application, the pact has named the Electoral Commission of Zambia and the Mulilo Kabesha, requesting a stay of the 2025–2026 delimitation exercise and an injunction to prevent certification of the final voters’ register, which is scheduled for 30 April 2026.
The pact contends that the sequence of operations undertaken by the ECZ contravenes constitutional provisions governing boundary delimitation and voter registration.
People’s Pact Vice President for Strategy Peter Sinkamba submitted that voter registration data were captured before the legal finalisation of new constituency boundaries and before the dissolution of Parliament and local councils. He argues that this amounts to a breach of Article 58(6) and Article 57(6) of the Constitution.
Mr Sinkamba further alleges that certifying the voters’ register on 30 April would create what he described as an irreversible legal position under the Electoral Process Act, potentially resulting in mass disenfranchisement. He argues that voter cards issued under the current framework of 156 constituencies could later be mapped to a revised total of 211 constituencies, creating uncertainty over voter placement.
The petition also raises concern over the provisional voters’ register inspection period scheduled to run from 9 to 23 February 2026. According to the pact, voters currently lack the constitutional certainty required to verify their registration details against boundaries that have not yet been legally finalised.
In addition, the petition contends that the ECZ has not demonstrated compliance with the population quota requirement set out in Article 58(5) of the Constitution. It further questions which delimitation report the commission intends to rely on, citing uncertainty over whether a 2019 report or one informed by the post-2022 census will form the basis of the exercise.
The People’s Pact has asked the court to maintain the status quo of 156 constituencies pending judicial determination of the matter. It argues that this would represent the balance of convenience and protect the credibility of the general election scheduled for 13 August 2026.
The Constitutional Court has yet to indicate when it will hear the matter.
It’s my way or no way !!!! so dont waste time rather give more time to a useful stratergy
If these opposition leaders were serious, they could by now covered all districts engaging people on the ground and should have been planning for another round of visits. They are just having pressers in Lusaka. Only Kalaba, who despite defying credible advice of not going for it alone is determined to go it alone and in self destruction mode is on the ground.
We want to see a realistic economic turnaround plan first please.
It appears all opposition political parties in Zambia do not know even at this late stage what Zambians want to hear.
For clarity, no Zambian wants to hear HH this HH that. No. We all know HH is going out in August, however the bigger picture is what next. Short term, mid-term and long-term economic plans. Especially short term to alleviate what Zambians are going through. Anything else, litigation, complaints, character assassination and any other, other than my advice here will be deemed as noise.
This is a serious act that should be insulated to ensure protection of elections data and voters
Like the US voters purge protection act and voters act Our National Statues like the US National Voters Registration Act of 1993 should strictly clarify insulate and protect Voters Registration environment and Data
No one should remove introduce or reallocate or indeed refuse the right to vote in any locality eligible for any valid registered citizen
In elections cycle people choose not be allocated pro-rata to areas and constituencies and delimitations must have happended before