EDITORIAL | PF Must Confront Reality Before 2026 Does It for Them
The Patriotic Front says it will hold a convention this Saturday. It says it will proceed even if the court rules against it. It is even considering using a Special Purpose Vehicle to bypass legal uncertainty.
Pause there.
A party that governed Zambia for ten years is now debating whether to use an SPV to hold its own convention. That alone tells the story of institutional collapse.
Let us be blunt. The PF crisis is no longer about factions. It is about time. February is ending. Parliament will soon dissolve. The 2026 general election clock is ticking. While President Hakainde Hichilema consolidates incumbency, stabilizes the economy and builds electoral structures, PF is still arguing about who holds the certificate.
Politics punishes hesitation.
Given Lubinda’s faction insists it has authority. Robert Chabinga holds the legal documents. Brian Mundubile has built an alternative Tonse Alliance structure. Others are waiting for court judgments. The result is paralysis.
Meanwhile, voters are moving.
Let us confront the elephant in the room. Edgar Lungu lost the 2021 election by over one million votes. That margin was not cosmetic. It was a decisive national verdict. Yet nearly five years later, PF remains trapped in the psychology of that loss. His name dominates internal mobilization. His burial dispute defines opposition messaging. His shadow hovers over leadership succession.
Ghost politics will not win 2026.
If PF leaders truly believe, as they often say, that “PF is in the hearts of the people and not in symbols or buildings,” then the logical step is obvious. Leave the carcass of litigation behind. Register a new party. Rebrand. Reset. Reorganize without court injunctions, certificate disputes and parallel conventions.
Political capital lies in structure, not nostalgia.
The longer PF fights over legal technicalities, the more its provincial strongholds fracture. Northern circuit voting patterns are no longer guaranteed. MPs are already signaling quiet exits. Some are tilting toward Mundubile’s Tonse. Others are flirting with UPND. Once Parliament dissolves, the PF brand may shrink from a national vehicle to a historical reference.
And here is the strategic reality. Hichilema is ahead of the game. He controls incumbency. He commands fiscal policy. He has regained macroeconomic credibility. Copper production is rising. Inflation has retreated into single digits. Education and CDF remain politically potent. Whether one supports him or not, he is operating from structural advantage.
Opposition fragmentation only widens that gap.
To the Lubinda camp: holding a convention under legal cloud does not signal strength. It signals desperation. To those considering SPVs: political legitimacy cannot be engineered through technical maneuvers. To all factions: the electorate will not reward a party that appears unable to govern itself.
Zambia’s opposition must decide whether it wants to be a government-in-waiting or a movement-in-mourning.
The advice is simple and harsh. Close the PF chapter with dignity. Allow Edgar Lungu’s legacy to rest. Stop weaponizing burial disputes. Stop litigating leadership in public. Build a new, legally clean platform that competes on ideas, economic alternatives and institutional credibility.
Politics is not sentimental. It is structural.
If PF refuses to evolve, 2026 will not be competitive. It will be confirmatory.
The country deserves a serious opposition. Whether PF can still become one depends on what it does next.
© The People’s Brief | Editor-in-Chief