The Bulldozer

The Zambian Constitutional Court recently overturned lower court rulings to determine that ex-President Edgar Lungu could not run for reelection in 2026.

Lungu first took office in 2015 after the death of President Michael Sata, the BBC reported. He then won reelection in 2016, defeating current President Hakainde Hichilema. In 2021, he ran again but lost to Hichilema. Now, after arguing that his first 20-month term shouldn’t count towards his limit of two terms, he’s barred from running again.

Lungi said the decision reflected “political interference in the judiciary,” wrote the Africa Report.

The decision raises serious questions about Zambian democracy. Lungu faced corruption allegations when in power. He’s accused, for example, of participating in bribes and kickbacks related to construction projects in Zambia and Eswatini, the country formerly known as Swaziland, wrote the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Now his family faces numerous graft charges, the Associated Press reported. This summer, for instance, Zambian police arrested Lungu’s wife Esther and daughter on corruption charges, First Post added. Prosecutors alleged that Esther Lungu owns properties worth more than $2 billion, but couldn’t explain how she paid for the properties.

Still, observers say that Lungu might be correct when he says Hichilema is railroading him.

The Zambian government withdrew Lungu’s retirement benefits when it became clear he might challenge Hichilema. After he announced that he would run again, Lungu began jogging in public with supporters. The police deemed the jogging as “political activism” that should be registered before occurring and forced him to stop. Hichilema also fired three judges who approved Lungu’s 2021 run for office.

Those are only some signs of how Hichilema might be consolidating his rule. His government has proposed legislation compelling non-governmental organizations to register with the state, a common way for governments to exercise control over a sector of civil society that often holds powerful figures to account.

Hichilema, meanwhile, has been trying to look presidential. He has been working hard to improve his country’s ties with both the US and China, as the American Presidency Project and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs illustrated.

Improving his country’s infrastructure, especially its energy grid – the southern African nation had been a pioneer in hydropower but now is struggling to generate electricity due to bad droughts, as the Washington Post reported – is among his priorities. To help address spikes in energy costs, he has been building coal-fired plants to make up for the difference, the Wilson Center noted.

Hichilema may be trying to make Zambians’ lives better – they face poverty, electricity shortages, and inflation. But he’s also trying to stay in power by changing the constitution and possibly delaying the elections for years, according to Sishuwa of Stellenbosch University in South Africa, writing in the Mail & Guardian.

“The president’s implied threats to extend his stay in power were neither random nor a result of ignorance of the law,” he wrote. “Hichilema has a proven record of undermining democratic institutions in a crude manner. If Zambians wish to reclaim their democratic institutions and space, they will do well not to underestimate Hichilema and the lengths to which he is prepared to go in his bid for absolute power.”