Mundubile faces final hours to petition presidential election result
The window for losing NRPUP presidential candidate Brian Mundubile to challenge the outcome of Zambia’s August 13 presidential election is rapidly closing, with less than 24 hours remaining before the constitutional deadline expires.
Lusaka, 24 August – Sources close to the matter say Mundubile had not filed a presidential election petition in the Constitutional Court as of yesterday evening, despite his earlier rejection of the election results and his stated intention to challenge them.
Several lawyers contacted about the matter were unable to confirm whether a petition had been filed.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) declared Hakainde Hichilema duly elected President on August 18 after he secured 2,965,326 votes, while Mundubile polled 1,856,217.
Mundubile rejected the declaration almost immediately, alleging serious irregularities in the conduct of the election, including the counting, transmission and declaration of results.
He said his campaign had collected evidence pointing to discrepancies in a number of constituencies and indicated that the alleged irregularities would form the basis of a challenge before the Constitutional Court.
However, his planned legal challenge has been complicated by divisions within the political structures under which he contested the election.
NRPUP executive president Ezra Tembo publicly congratulated President-elect Hichilema and said the party had accepted the outcome of the August 13 election.
Tembo said the party respected the decision of the electorate and would take up its role as the official opposition, effectively distancing NRPUP from Mundubile’s rejection of the presidential result.
The party’s secretary general has also announced that NRPUP has withdrawn from the Tonse Alliance with immediate effect, saying the party would now pursue its political programme independently.
The decision creates an additional political complication for Mundubile, who contested the presidential election on the NRPUP ticket with the backing of the Tonse Alliance.
Tonse Alliance founder and secretary general Zumani Zimba has also publicly indicated that he would not support a presidential election petition, while some alliance partners have accepted the election outcome and called for dialogue and reconciliation.
But the position of the political party or alliance does not, in itself, determine whether Mundubile has the constitutional right to challenge the presidential result.
Article 103(1) of the Constitution provides that a person may, within seven days of the declaration of a President-elect, petition the Constitutional Court to nullify the election on prescribed grounds.
Mundubile could therefore pursue a petition in his own capacity if he believes he has sufficient legal grounds and evidence to challenge Hichilema’s election.
The immediate issue, however, is time.
With ECZ having declared Hichilema duly elected on August 18, the seven-day constitutional period expires tonight, leaving Mundubile with only a narrow window to lodge his challenge.
Questions have also been raised about aspects of the election results-management process.
The European Union Election Observation Mission highlighted concerns over transparency in parts of the process, including prolonged interruptions during tabulation and instances where some election officials did not immediately record announced results on tally sheets.
The ECZ also temporarily suspended the counting and announcement of results after reports of violence against electoral officials and the theft of ballot papers.
Mundubile has pointed to these and other alleged discrepancies in rejecting the election outcome. However, any legal challenge would ultimately have to satisfy the Constitutional Court that the alleged irregularities meet the constitutional threshold for nullifying a presidential election.
The declared margin between Hichilema and Mundubile is substantial, meaning that any petition would face the additional question of whether the alleged irregularities were sufficiently material to affect the result.
For now, attention is focused on the Constitutional Court and whether Mundubile will lodge his long-promised petition before the constitutional clock runs out.
-Nkanionline 2026