National Democratic Congress (NDC) leader Saboi Imboela has commended President Hakainde Hichilema for the introduction of proportional representation aimed at increasing the number of women in Parliament.
Imboela said the move, which guarantees 20 seats for women, is an important step toward improving women’s participation in national leadership.
Under Constitution Amendment Bill No. 7 of 2025, Parliament would expand from the current 156 constituency seats to include 40 additional seats filled through proportional representation. Of these seats, 20 would be reserved for women, 15 for youths and five for persons with disabilities.
The reserved seats would be allocated through party lists, allowing candidates to enter Parliament based on the proportion of votes their political parties receive during general elections.
Speaking through a TV interview, Imboela said the proposed reform has the potential to significantly increase the representation of women in the National Assembly.
She said that although she was disappointed with the scrapping of the Ministry of Gender and the relatively low number of women appointed to Cabinet, she welcomed the President’s commitment to proportional representation.
“One thing that I have always been very happy with President Hichilema is the fact that he made it very clear from the onset that he wanted proportionate representation. On that one, I am very, very happy,” Imboela said.
She added that while she had concerns about the process surrounding Bill 7, the contents of the bill still present progress for women’s political representation.
“The issue was always about the process. The process was not really fair. It was disrespectful to us as stakeholders. So Bill 7 was never really so much about the content, but the process. The content was not so bad,” she said.
Imboela noted that proportional representation has helped increase women’s participation in politics in several countries, including Rwanda, South Africa and Namibia.
“In Africa, when you see all the countries that are doing well when it comes to women’s political representation, you see that all of them have proportional representation. Rwanda, which is the very best in the whole world, has about 64.4 percent of women in parliament,” she said.
She also urged political parties not to rely solely on the guaranteed seats but to ensure that more women are adopted as candidates.
“So political parties should ensure, as much as possible, that they adopt women,” she said.
Imboela said the introduction of proportional representation places Zambia on a positive path toward improving women’s representation in leadership.
“On that one alone, I commend President Hichilema for ensuring that we have proportional representation. Because trust me, we are now on the right path to ensure that we have a good number of women,” she said.