{ "data": { "id": "zambia-general-2026", "country": "ZM", "country_name": "Zambia", "date": "2026-08-13", "date_status": "declared", "kind": "general", "conditional": null, "timezone": "Africa/Lusaka", "status": "final-expected", "last_verified_at": "2026-09-25T12:00:00Z", "stale": true, "stale_reason": "president: election-night was expected by 2026-08-17T21:59:59Z and has not been observed yet", "provenance": { "from": "researcher agent 2026-09-25: ECZ Revised 2026 General Election Roadmap (elections.org.zm PDF), ECZ nomination notice ?p=5598 (polling hours), ECZ speech ?p=5529 (226 constituencies), ECZ results index ?page_id=4293 and WordPress post/media API (no 2026 results posted), Constitution of Zambia 2016 Arts 68, 73, 101, 103, 105 (constituteproject.org), Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act No. 13 of 2025 (parliament.gov.zm PDF), Al Jazeera 18 Aug 2026, News Diggers 24 Aug 2026; leads and cross-checks from Wikipedia (2026 and 2021 Zambian general election; Second inauguration of Hakainde Hichilema)", "licence": "CC BY 4.0 (Election Index)" }, "url": "https://electionindex.org/election/zambia-general-2026", "races": [ { "id": "president", "key": "zambia-general-2026/president", "name": "President", "body": "head-of-state", "seats": null, "polls_close_utc": "2026-08-13T16:00:00Z", "authority": { "id": "zm-ecz", "name": "Electoral Commission of Zambia", "name_local": null, "role": "electoral-commission", "homepage": "https://www.elections.org.zm/", "results_index": "https://www.elections.org.zm/?page_id=4293", "open_data": null }, "status": "final-expected", "expected_stage_now": "court-validation", "observed": false, "final_observed": null, "final_expected": { "from": "2026-08-14T22:00:00Z", "by": "2026-08-20T21:59:59Z", "confidence": "announced", "basis": "Constitution Art. 101(2): the Returning Officer (the ECZ chairperson) 'shall declare the presidential candidate who receives more than fifty percent of the valid votes cast' as President-elect; otherwise a second ballot within 37 days (Art. 101(3)). ECZ roadmap: verification 15-17 Aug, declaration Monday 17 Aug 2026. The window runs to the end of Thu 20 Aug CAT, erring late (2021 precedent: vote 12 Aug, declaration 16 Aug 2021, day 4, per Reuters/BBC as cited on Wikipedia). What happened (press only, so observedAt is unset): ECZ chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis declared Hakainde Hichilema President-elect 'this 18th day of August, 2026', in the early hours of Tue 18 Aug, with more than 50% of valid votes, so no second ballot was needed (Al Jazeera, 18 Aug 2026; News Diggers, 24 Aug 2026). On 25 Sep 2026 no declaration or results document for 2026 was on elections.org.zm." }, "stages": [ { "stage": "election-night", "from": "2026-08-13T16:00:00Z", "by": "2026-08-17T21:59:59Z", "replacedAt": null, "confidence": "estimate", "citation": "Polls closed at 18:00 CAT (UTC+2, no DST) = 16:00 UTC (ECZ notice ?p=5598). Votes are counted at polling stations and totalled by constituency; the ECZ reads constituency results out at its National Results Centre (launched 11 Aug 2026 per the ECZ roadmap) as they arrive. These are partial counts, not the declared result. 2026: the ECZ suspended the count for several hours on 14 Aug, citing attacks on polling staff (Al Jazeera, 18 Aug 2026). The window closes with the roadmap's end of verification (17 Aug); it is an estimate.", "source": null, "observedAt": null, "observedSource": null }, { "stage": "final-result", "from": "2026-08-14T22:00:00Z", "by": "2026-08-20T21:59:59Z", "replacedAt": null, "confidence": "announced", "citation": "Constitution Art. 101(2): the Returning Officer (the ECZ chairperson) 'shall declare the presidential candidate who receives more than fifty percent of the valid votes cast' as President-elect; otherwise a second ballot within 37 days (Art. 101(3)). ECZ roadmap: verification 15-17 Aug, declaration Monday 17 Aug 2026. The window runs to the end of Thu 20 Aug CAT, erring late (2021 precedent: vote 12 Aug, declaration 16 Aug 2021, day 4, per Reuters/BBC as cited on Wikipedia). What happened (press only, so observedAt is unset): ECZ chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis declared Hakainde Hichilema President-elect 'this 18th day of August, 2026', in the early hours of Tue 18 Aug, with more than 50% of valid votes, so no second ballot was needed (Al Jazeera, 18 Aug 2026; News Diggers, 24 Aug 2026). On 25 Sep 2026 no declaration or results document for 2026 was on elections.org.zm.", "source": null, "observedAt": null, "observedSource": null }, { "stage": "court-validation", "from": "2026-08-17T22:00:00Z", "by": "2026-09-08T21:59:59Z", "replacedAt": null, "confidence": "announced", "citation": "The Constitutional Court acts only on a petition. Constitution Art. 101(4) / 103(1): a person may petition it 'within seven days of the declaration'; Art. 103(2) as amended by Act No. 13 of 2025: the Court shall 'hear and determine' the petition within fourteen days of filing; its decision is final. Window: declaration day (18 Aug) to 14 days after the last filing day (25 Aug) = 8 Sep 2026. What happened (press only): no petition was filed. News Diggers (24 Aug 2026) reported none filed with under 24 hours left; the campaign put the deadline at 24 Aug; court premises, including the Constitutional Court's, were closed on 24 Aug citing security (Reuters, 24 Aug 2026, as cited on Wikipedia); State House said on 25 Aug that no petition had been lodged (Mwebantu, 25 Aug 2026, as cited on Wikipedia). With no petition, the declaration stands and no court judgment exists.", "source": null, "observedAt": null, "observedSource": null }, { "stage": "government", "from": "2026-08-31T22:00:00Z", "by": "2026-09-01T21:59:59Z", "replacedAt": null, "confidence": "announced", "citation": "Constitution Art. 105(2)(a): the President-elect is sworn in 'on the Tuesday following the seventh day after the date of the declaration' if no petition is filed. Declaration 18 Aug; seventh day after = Tue 25 Aug; the Tuesday following = Tue 1 Sep 2026. Press/Wikipedia ('Second inauguration of Hakainde Hichilema'): sworn in by Chief Justice Mumba Malila at National Heroes Stadium, Lusaka, on 1 Sep 2026, ceremony from 11:00 CAT. Not read on an authority page.", "source": null, "observedAt": null, "observedSource": null } ], "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.elections.org.zm/?page_id=4293", "role": "results-final", "kind": "emb_home", "kindReason": "site root: cannot answer a results question", "resolvable": false, "origin": "race", "note": "ECZ 'General Election Results' index (per-constituency PDFs for 2021 and earlier). It is an index, not a page for this election: on 25 Sep 2026 it listed no 2026 results, and the ECZ site had no post after 9 Aug 2026 (WordPress API checked). results.elections.org.zm answered 503 on 25 Sep 2026, so we could not confirm it as this election's results page.", "check": null }, { "url": "https://www.elections.org.zm/wp-content/uploads/2026-Elections-Timetable-14-August-2025-30-days.pdf", "role": "timetable", "kind": "other", "kindReason": "election page without a results marker", "resolvable": false, "origin": "race", "note": "ECZ 'Revised 2026 General Election - Roadmap': poll date (first ballot) Thursday 13 Aug 2026; receipt and verification of results 15-17 Aug; declaration of election results Monday 17 Aug; publication of election results 17-24 Aug 2026.", "check": null }, { "url": "https://www.elections.org.zm/?p=5598", "role": "timetable", "kind": "emb_home", "kindReason": "site root: cannot answer a results question", "resolvable": false, "origin": "race", "note": "ECZ notice of validly nominated candidates (22 Jul 2026): poll on 'Thursday, 13th August 2026 between 06:00 hrs and 18:00 hrs'.", "check": null }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Zambian_general_election", "role": "see-also", "kind": "other", "kindReason": "election page without a results marker", "resolvable": false, "origin": "race", "check": null }, { "url": "https://www.elections.org.zm/", "role": "authority-home", "kind": "emb_home", "kindReason": "site root: cannot answer a results question", "resolvable": false, "origin": "authority", "check": null } ], "page_activity": [], "government": null, "url": "https://electionindex.org/election/zambia-general-2026#president" }, { "id": "national-assembly", "key": "zambia-general-2026/national-assembly", "name": "National Assembly", "body": "legislature-unicameral", "seats": 266, "polls_close_utc": "2026-08-13T16:00:00Z", "authority": { "id": "zm-ecz", "name": "Electoral Commission of Zambia", "name_local": null, "role": "electoral-commission", "homepage": "https://www.elections.org.zm/", "results_index": "https://www.elections.org.zm/?page_id=4293", "open_data": null }, "status": "final-expected", "expected_stage_now": "final-result", "observed": false, "final_observed": null, "final_expected": { "from": "2026-08-14T22:00:00Z", "by": "2026-08-28T21:59:59Z", "confidence": "announced", "basis": "Seats: Constitution Art. 68(1) as replaced by the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act No. 13 of 2025 (assent 18 Dec 2025): 226 constituency-based seats (first past the post) plus 40 proportional-representation seats (20 women, 15 youths, 5 persons with disabilities) = 266 elected; up to 11 nominated members and ex officio members are not counted here. Art. 47(4) as amended: the ECZ distributes the 40 PR seats to parties 'after a general election ... in proportion to the total number of valid votes received by a presidential candidate', so the full composition depends on the presidential result. ECZ roadmap: declaration 17 Aug, publication of election results 17-24 Aug 2026; the window runs four more days to end of Fri 28 Aug CAT, erring late (an estimate on top of the roadmap). Wikipedia reports all 226 constituencies declared and the 40 PR seats allocated, but we found no ECZ page or document for them, so observedAt is unset. Challenges: an election petition goes to the High Court and must be heard within 90 days of filing (Art. 73); the filing deadline is set by the Electoral Process Act, which we did not read." }, "stages": [ { "stage": "election-night", "from": "2026-08-13T16:00:00Z", "by": "2026-08-17T21:59:59Z", "replacedAt": null, "confidence": "estimate", "citation": "Polls closed at 18:00 CAT = 16:00 UTC (ECZ notice ?p=5598). Each of the 226 constituency seats is declared by its returning officer at the constituency totalling centre as counting finishes; the ECZ relays these at the National Results Centre. The window follows the ECZ roadmap's verification period (to 17 Aug); an estimate.", "source": null, "observedAt": null, "observedSource": null }, { "stage": "final-result", "from": "2026-08-14T22:00:00Z", "by": "2026-08-28T21:59:59Z", "replacedAt": null, "confidence": "announced", "citation": "Seats: Constitution Art. 68(1) as replaced by the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act No. 13 of 2025 (assent 18 Dec 2025): 226 constituency-based seats (first past the post) plus 40 proportional-representation seats (20 women, 15 youths, 5 persons with disabilities) = 266 elected; up to 11 nominated members and ex officio members are not counted here. Art. 47(4) as amended: the ECZ distributes the 40 PR seats to parties 'after a general election ... in proportion to the total number of valid votes received by a presidential candidate', so the full composition depends on the presidential result. ECZ roadmap: declaration 17 Aug, publication of election results 17-24 Aug 2026; the window runs four more days to end of Fri 28 Aug CAT, erring late (an estimate on top of the roadmap). Wikipedia reports all 226 constituencies declared and the 40 PR seats allocated, but we found no ECZ page or document for them, so observedAt is unset. Challenges: an election petition goes to the High Court and must be heard within 90 days of filing (Art. 73); the filing deadline is set by the Electoral Process Act, which we did not read.", "source": null, "observedAt": null, "observedSource": null } ], "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.elections.org.zm/?page_id=4293", "role": "results-final", "kind": "emb_home", "kindReason": "site root: cannot answer a results question", "resolvable": false, "origin": "race", "note": "ECZ 'General Election Results' index (2021 National Assembly results as a per-constituency PDF). An index, not a page for this election: on 25 Sep 2026 it listed no 2026 results.", "check": null }, { "url": "https://www.elections.org.zm/wp-content/uploads/2026-Elections-Timetable-14-August-2025-30-days.pdf", "role": "timetable", "kind": "other", "kindReason": "election page without a results marker", "resolvable": false, "origin": "race", "note": "ECZ roadmap: poll 13 Aug 2026; declaration 17 Aug; publication of election results 17-24 Aug 2026.", "check": null }, { "url": "https://www.elections.org.zm/?p=5529", "role": "timetable", "kind": "emb_home", "kindReason": "site root: cannot answer a results question", "resolvable": false, "origin": "race", "note": "ECZ chairperson's speech announcing the 70 new constituencies (16 Apr 2026): Act No. 13 of 2025 increased constituency-based seats 'from 156 to 226'.", "check": null }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Zambian_general_election", "role": "see-also", "kind": "other", "kindReason": "election page without a results marker", "resolvable": false, "origin": "race", "check": null }, { "url": "https://www.elections.org.zm/", "role": "authority-home", "kind": "emb_home", "kindReason": "site root: cannot answer a results question", "resolvable": false, "origin": "authority", "check": null } ], "page_activity": [], "government": null, "url": "https://electionindex.org/election/zambia-general-2026#national-assembly" } ] }, "meta": { "dataset_version": "2026-09-25.d34ce25d", "built_at": "2026-09-25T14:52:52Z", "generated_at": "2026-09-25T15:16:03.923Z", "licence": "CC BY 4.0: credit \"Election Index (electionindex.org)\" and link to https://electionindex.org", "docs": "https://electionindex.org/docs" } }