Zambia’s ex-President Lungu barred from seeking re-election
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Zambian President Edgar Lungu gives a press briefing on July 6, 2017 at the Zambian State House in Lusaka. – Zambian President Edgar Lungu on Thursday justified invoking a state of emergency by alleging that opposition parties were behind a string of arson attacks intended “to create terror and panic”. Lungu denied that he was establishing a dictatorship in Zambia, a relatively stable country in recent years, and said his political rivals were trying to overturn last year’s election results. (Photo by SALIM DAWOOD / AFP) (Photo by SALIM DAWOOD/AFP via Getty Images)
Zambia’s top court has barred former President Edgar Lungu from standing for re-election in 2026.
The Constitutional Court ruled that the 68-year-old politician had already served the maximum two terms allowed by law.
Lungu was first elected president in January 2015 to serve the remaining 20 months of his predecessor’s term. President Michael Sata had died in office in October 2014.
Lungu had argued that this should not count as he did not serve a full five-year term. But the court disagreed – reversing previous rulings that had cleared him to run three years ago when he lost to Hakainde Hichilema.
Edgar Chagwa Lungu has therefore been twice elected and has twice held office. The constitution makes him ineligible to participate in any future elections as a presidential candidate, the court ruled.
