Statement from Mo Ibrahim on the Zambian elections
26 August, 2026
Mr President, your first mandate was defined by progress. Do not waste what you have achieved.
We are watching post-presidential election developments in Zambia with deep concern.
Elections are of course a key test of democracy. But the test extends beyond what happens at the ballot box.
The arbitrary arrest of opposition members; the killing of a former minister; and the suspension of vote counting: these should never happen in a true democracy.
The recent decision to close Zambia’s top courts, including the Constitutional Court, just before the deadline for challenging the election result, only adds to the mess.
Zambia has a proud legacy of competitive elections, peaceful transfers of power and respect for constitutional processes.
This legacy was built over decades. It has been showcased as a model to follow.
Mr President: Your own legacy could be just as strong.
But no legacy can be taken for granted. It must be protected and strengthened from one mandate to the next.
It would be a waste and a shame for it all to crumble now.
https://mo.ibrahim.foundation/news/2026/statement-mo-ibrahim-zambian-elections
I don’t understand the court closure or if they had to close for security reasons, the petition should be submitted now. It was not the opposition fault that they could not submit.
I don’t think they have a case, but this type of activity makes the government look like they have something to hide.
The rest of the stuff Mo Ibrahim mentions is very much speculation. He implies the government killed a former minister with no qualification of the actual situation. We do not yet know who shot whom, what was going on at that house that required police intervention, etc. It is therefore reckless to make these statements. But on the petition – totally agree.
There is no true democratic country,maybe some Scandinavian countries are,but UK,USA,Russia..etc are not pure democratic countries.So if such countries are not,how would you expect African countries to suddenly become pure democracies.We learned about democracy from these so called leading democratic countries.
Time wasting is costly! It is good that the petition failed.We must race with time for development.Elections are won by proper campaigns not petition.We advised them that Zambia is not Lusaka or copper belt.They left 3 provinces not well covered for campaigns and want to pretend that votes were stolen from them.
Time indeed to push forward with meaningful programmes to address concerns of citizens, like lowering the cost of mealies to those who cannot afford, and the like! Opposition check out your campaign strategy next time!!!
I don’t think this is from Mo Ibrahim. It is one of Emmanuel Mwamba’ s deceptive antics.