Mnangagwa Suffers Set back In Zambia
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has suffered a regional setback after his political ally Edgar Lungu, former Zambian leader, was yesterday barred by the apex court from standing for re-election in 2026.
Mnangagwa, who has some dodgy and controversial roots, has a vested political interest in Zambia for current political, geopolitical and personal reasons.
He grew up in Zambia and to all intents and purposes, he is Zambian.
The Constitutional Court ruled that the 68-year-old politician, who was already on the campaign trail for the 2026 presidential election, had already served the maximum two terms allowed by law.
Lungu was first elected president in January 2015 to serve the remaining 20 months of his predecessor’s term.
President Michael Sata had died in office in October 2014. After that on 20 January 2015, Lungu contested a presidential by-election and beat his closest rival, current President Hakainde Hichilema by a narrow majority of just 27 757 votes (1.66%), with just 32.36% of registered voters participating.
Lungu then ran for a full term in the August 2016 presidential poll, a rematch of the 2015 election between him and Hichilema.
Lungu won the election with 50.32% of the vote, a few thousand votes over the threshold to avoid a run-off.
However, he also increased his margin of victory over Hichilema to 100 530 votes (2.72%).
Hichilema refused to concede defeat in the disputed poll and filed an election petition before the Constitutional Court, seeking annulment of results citing irregularities.
But the court dismissed the case on 5 September 2016 and Lungu was inaugurated for a full five-year term of office on 13 September.
In the current case, Lungu had argued that his first short term should not count as he did not serve a full five-year term.
The court disagreed – reversing previous rulings which had cleared him to run three years ago when he lost to Hichilema.
“Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu has therefore been twice elected and has twice held office. The [constitution] makes him ineligible to participate in any future elections as a presidential candidate,” the court ruled.
Last month, Lungu was picked by the rising opposition Tonse Alliance to be its presidential candidate in the 2026 election to challenge Hichilema, who is Mnangagwa’s sworn regional enemy.
Mnangagwa does not like Hichilema because he led the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) troika of the organ on politics, defence and security cooperation to reject Mnangagwa and Zanu PF’s flawed re-election last year as fraudulent and illegitimate.
Sadc leaders subsequently endorsed that position at an extraordinary summit in Luanda, Angola, although Mnangagwa and Zanu PF have hung onto power illegitimately.
