Zambia’s Constitutional Court has ruled that former president Edgar Lungu is ineligible to stand in future elections after he announced his return to active politics in 2023, reported News24.
The court determined that Lungu’s first term, which lasted 20 months from 2015 to 2016 following the death of then-president Michael Sata, should be considered a full term.
His second term spanned from September 2016 to August 2021, after which he lost the presidency to United Party for National Development candidate Hakainde Hichilema in the 2021 national election.
Lungu had contended that his initial period in office did not count towards the maximum term limit, but the court was persuaded otherwise by arguments presented by youth activist Michelo Chizombe.
This ruling prevents Lungu from challenging incumbent Hakainde Hichilema in the 2026 elections.
Justice Arnold Mweetwa Shilimi, the deputy president of the Constitutional Court said:
A person who has twice held office and been elected cannot serve another term. Our combined interpretation of the constitution is that the respondent’s term of office from 25 January 2015 to 13 September 2016 constituted a term of office.
Lungu assumed office after the death of Sata in October 2014. Chizombe argued that since Lungu had been properly installed, it did not matter that his succession was not via a vote.
Ahead of the trial, Lungu accused Hichilema of using the law to avoid a showdown at the polls, describing it as “cowardly and dirty political schemes” to bar him.
The Constitutional Court was initially seen as sympathetic to Lungu, who had appointed six of its eleven judges.
Hichilema removed three of those judges, all of whom had ruled against him when he challenged Lungu’s previous victory.
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