Zambia’s top court has barred former President Edgar Lungu from standing for re-election in 2026.
The Constitutional Court ruled that the 68-year-old politician 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.
Lungu had argued that this should not count as he did not serve a full five-year term. But the court disagreed, reversing previous rulings that had cleared him to run three years ago when he lost to Hakainde Hichilema.
Meanwhile, Lungu said he accepted the Constitutional Court’s verdict, which he claimed did not come as a surprise as it had been steered by the hands of political manipulation.
