KASONDE MWENDA RUSHED TO COURT AGAINST ECZ OVER MISSED PRESIDENTIAL PRE-PROCESSING
EFF President Kasonde Mwenda has moved to the High Court seeking urgent judicial intervention against the Electoral Commission of Zambia, arguing that he risks exclusion from the presidential race after allegedly being denied an opportunity to preprocess nomination supporters.
According to court documents, Mwenda had already paid the required K100,000 presidential nomination fee and had been allocated May 13, 2026 for preprocessing by ECZ. However, he failed to attend after being detained by police and transferred to Chinsali District in connection with a cyber-related offence that recently placed him at the centre of public attention.
Mwenda argues that while in custody, he formally notified ECZ that he would not be able to appear on the scheduled date and requested an alternative slot within the running programme. He claims the Commission received the communication but did not respond.
The EFF leader further contends that after his release on May 15, he visited ECZ offices and was informed that some candidates who had missed earlier dates had allegedly been accommodated on the final day of the exercise.
He now argues that the Commission’s refusal or failure to similarly consider his request amounts to “procedural unfairness, unequal treatment and breach of legitimate expectation.”
The matter has now become time-sensitive because today, May 22, marks the deadline tied to the presidential nomination process calendar. Mwenda is therefore asking the High Court to urgently grant leave for judicial review proceedings before the process effectively closes.
Goran Handya
The People’s Brief