….as Chief Justice calls petition filing challenging his re-election “highly irregular”…
LUSAKA-(MaraviPost)-The swearing-in of President-elect Hakainde Hichilema will take place on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, a senior government official has said.
Secretary to the Cabinet Patrick Kangwa said the seven-day period provided for filing a petition challenging the presidential election had expired without the Judiciary receiving any petition.
Kangwa said the swearing-in will proceed in accordance with Article 105 of the Constitution of Zambia Amendment Act No. 2 of 2016.
He told national broadcaster ZNBC that the venue for the inauguration ceremony will be announced in due course.
Kangwa’s remarks come after some lawyers said they had petitioned the presidential results.
A petition challenging the outcome of Zambia’s 13 August presidential election now faces steep procedural hurdles after Chief Justice Dr. Mumba Malila described how it reached him as “highly irregular.”
In a statement issued on 25th August 2026, the Judiciary said the Chief Justice received documents labeled “the people’s presidential petition” from a member of the public.
“While the Chief Justice finds the mode of communication of official court documents through his private address to be highly irregular, he has quite exceptionally, using his administrative powers, referred the documents received to the Constitutional Court for its consideration on the issue of the filing of the petition,” the statement read, signed by Deputy Director – Corporate Communications Kalumba Chisambisha-Slavin.
The referral does not amount to acceptance of the petition.
Constitutional Court rules require petitions to be filed formally and within strict timelines at the court registry, not through a judge’s personal email.
The Judiciary noted it was aware of social media claims that the petition had been “formally and duly filed,” but said affected parties should “hear from that Court in due course.”
According to legal experts unorthodox filing method makes petitions’ prospects unlikely, as courts are expected to strictly enforce procedural requirements in election disputes.
The courts were all closed on the petition deadline, forcing petitioners to seek to file electronically.
The filing was ultimately done via the Chief Justice’s personal email address amid a second day of restricted access to the High Court and Constitutional Court due to heightened security concerns.
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