The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) has handed Zambia a 13-point reform agenda after the 13 August 2026 general elections, setting up a fresh test of political will that earlier reform calls have largely failed. The final report was presented in Lusaka on…

The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) has handed Zambia a 13-point reform agenda after the 13 August 2026 general elections, setting up a fresh test of political will that earlier reform calls have largely failed. The final report was presented in Lusaka on Tuesday by Chief Observer Michael McNamara, a Member of the European Parliament from Ireland. It lists eight priority measures, from rewriting electoral law well before polls to turning ZNBC into a genuine public service broadcaster. The European Union says it stands ready to support Zambia in implementing them. History offers little comfort: of the 22 recommendations the EU made after the 2021 elections, only one was fully implemented.

The report gives the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) credit on several fronts. It finds that the elections offered Zambians a competitive choice, that polling staff administered voting efficiently, and that the ECZ was well prepared. It also concludes that the newly amended legal framework provided a broadly adequate basis for democratic elections. Observers covered the opening of 39 polling stations, voting at 419, counting at 38 and tabulation at 64 totalling centres. The mission was in the country from 29 June to 1 September at the Government’s invitation and deployed 100 observers from 26 EU member states, Canada and Norway on election day.

The picture darkens after polling day. The mission says the process deteriorated after the ECZ ordered a nationwide six-hour suspension of counting and announcement of results on 14 August, a decision it says was insufficiently explained. At totalling centres, observers recorded serious incidents and procedural irregularities that affected transparency and credibility, and saw less public scrutiny after the suspension. The ECZ declared the presidential result on 18 August, but the report notes that no full results have been posted publicly. Local observers also flagged inconsistencies, made worse by the absence of polling station results published centrally.

“The suspension of counting and the subsequent closure of courts curtailed transparency and access to justice, two pillars of any democratic election,” Mr McNamara said.

The report describes the post-election environment as tense and turbulent, shaped by a sequence of opaque security actions. A raid by joint security forces on a property linked to the opposition leadership on 14 August left former Cabinet minister Mutotwe Kafwaya dead and 11 key opposition figures under arrest. Opposition presidential candidate Brian Mundubile and his running mate Makebi Zulu were later arrested and charged with treason, then sedition. The mission says the prolonged lack of official information on the raid, the arrests and the whereabouts of those detained created room for speculation and public anxiety. It adds that the physical closure of courts from 24 to 26 August cut two of the seven constitutional days for filing presidential petitions.

On the campaign, the mission found an uneven playing field. The ECZ’s new campaign timetable restricted opposition candidates to five-day provincial windows while exempting the President and Vice-President, and opposition events were cancelled when the incumbent visited. Observers directly recorded misuse of state resources at campaign events in eight provinces. Monitoring of 10 media outlets found that 96.2 per cent of ZNBC Television airtime and 90.5 per cent of ZNBC Radio airtime favoured the United Party for National Development (UPND). Women made up only nine per cent of candidates across all levels.

The eight priority recommendations now define the road ahead. Parliament is asked to revise the electoral legal framework well before the next election through an inclusive, expert-driven process, and to align the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Acts with commitments on free expression and privacy. The ECZ is asked to publish all regulatory instruments, stop issuing campaign timetables, ease observer accreditation and post complete, polling station-level results online promptly. Government is asked to remove ZNBC from direct state control and grant it editorial independence. The courts and lawmakers are asked to set realistic petition timelines, including filing by alternative means when courts are inaccessible.

The first measurable deadline is already on the calendar. On 2 April 2026, the Constitutional Court ordered Government to enact political parties legislation within 12 months, describing its absence as unconstitutional, which puts the cut-off in early April 2027. A draft Political Parties Act has been under discussion since 2017 without reaching Parliament. Constitutionally mandated political finance law also remains unenacted. The Public Order Act stayed on the statute books for the 2026 polls even though a Public Gatherings Bill passed the National Assembly.

The track record explains the scepticism. A 2024 EU Election Follow-up Mission found limited progress on the 2021 recommendations. Only the Access to Information law was fully delivered, while the repeal of criminal defamation of the President was blunted by similar offences in the new cyber laws. No effective action was taken on six priority recommendations, and 10 others were not adopted at all. Every EU mission since 2001 has called for ZNBC to become a genuine public broadcaster, and none of those calls has been implemented.

Early signals from Government point in two directions. Within hours of the presentation, Chief Government Spokesperson Elvis Nkandu issued a statement contesting the report’s conclusions on electoral reforms, ZNBC and security operations. The same afternoon, President Hakainde Hichilema received the delegation at State House, thanked the mission for its recommendations and pledged continued reforms. Which of those two positions shapes policy will become clear as Parliament sets its legislative agenda for the new term. The mission’s own conclusion is blunt.

“Now is the time for political will and concerted action to promote accountability and transparency and the fundamental rights of freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and equitable political participation,” the mission stated.