CURRENT AND ACTIVE MEMBERS OF POLITICAL PARTIES CANNOT LEGALLY STAND AS INDEPENDENT MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT IN THE FORTHCOMING 2026 GENERAL ELECTIONS
By Shalala Oliver Sepiso
According to the current Zambian constitution and current electoral laws, a person must formally relinquish their political party membership at least two months before the nomination date to qualify as a candidate for elections in the general elections as an independent candidate for the National Assembly.
There are some key requirements for independent candidates and one of them is for them to meet the two-month rule, which clearly states that you cannot have been a member of any political party for at least 60 days immediately preceding the nomination.
For the upcoming 2026 general elections, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has reaffirmed that candidates seeking independent status must ensure they are not affiliated with any party well before nomination dates.
The requirements for independent candidates are primarily established in the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act No. 13 of 2025 and the Electoral Process (Amendment) Act of 2026 revised Article 51 to change the calculation of the “cooling-off” period for independent candidates from the election date to the nomination date.
Article 51 (as amended in 2025) says: “A person is eligible for election as an independent candidate for a constituency-based seat if that person—(a) has not been a member of a political party for at least two months immediately before the date for nominations.”
Since nominations for parliament are starting today, 20th May 2026, candidates for Independent MP seats must have resigned from their political parties by 20th March 2026.
By implication, this would mean that, for a person that was an active MP and an active member of a political party, they would then have lost their status as an MP. It is clear that if a sitting Member of Parliament (MP) was to resign from their party in order to prepare for them to run as an independent in this year’s general elections, their seat would become vacant immediately even though there wasn’t time for a by-election in March 2026 due to constitutional restrictions. The evidence as to whether those filing in did resign or not would include whether active MPs did inform the Speaker of their resignations.
Previously, the two-month window was calculated from the date of the election. Under the 2025 law, you must have been a non-member for two months before you even show up to file your nomination papers. The 2026 Act provides the procedural mechanics for enforcing these constitutional requirements, specifically through the use of Adoption Certificates and Affidavits. Section 30 (as amended in 2026) reads: “(2) A nomination paper and an affidavit… shall be accompanied by an adoption certificate except that this requirement shall not apply to an independent candidate. Section 31 (Filing of Nominations) states: “A person who files a nomination as an independent candidate shall, at the time of filing, submit a sworn affidavit stating that the person is not a member of, or affiliated with, any political party and has met the requirements of Article 51 of the Constitution.
It must be demonstrated here that, even though in the previous constitution of 2016 the two-month resignation requirement was tied to the date of the general elections and not to the date of the nominations, even under that Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act No. 2 of 2016, you could not be a member of a political party at the time you file your nomination as an independent candidate.
Under that law, with the general election on 13th August 2026, one was needed to have officially resigned and relinquished his party membership no later than 13th June 2026. However, you still had to not be a party member when filing in as an independent. By that law, an independent candidate needed not be “affiliated to any political party” at the time of nomination.
For both the previous constitution and the current amended one, one cannot file in for nomination as an independent candidate for the national assembly while being a member of a political party.
And when filing in, one was and is required to sign a sworn affidavit and a nomination form that declares their status as an independent and not a member of a political party.
Pretending to be independent whilst still being a member is deemed to be providing false information on these forms and this can lead to disqualification or legal action or both.
A candidate is required to provide evidence that they have formally relinquished their membership. This typically involves a resignation letter submitted to their former party and, ideally, notification to the Registrar of Societies by the due date. For active members of parliament, this would involve notice to the clerk of the national assembly.