Pro-gender group urges political parties to adopt women in winnable seats for 2026 elections

The Non-governmental Gender Organisations’ Coordinating Council (NGOCC) has called on political parties to act decisively and transparently as they select candidates for the 13th August 2026 General Elections.

Board Chairperson, Beauty Katebe said the organisation was aware that parties were currently engaged in candidate adoptions ahead of the nomination process and stressed the need for accountability in the process.

In a statement issued in Lusaka on Saturday, Katebe reminded parties of pledges they had signed to increase the inclusion of women and urged them to honour the commitment of ensuring at least 30 percent of adopted candidates are women.

“True inclusion requires more than token representation. It means placing women in constituencies where they have a genuine chance of winning, not relegating them to unwinnable seats,” she said.

Katebe called on parties to move away from the past practice of sidelining qualified female leaders and to recognize women who have demonstrated credibility and effort on the ground.

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She said lists of qualified female candidates had already been shared with parties, removing any excuse of unavailability.

“NGOCC reminds parties that women are ready and capable. Zambia can do better than the less than 15 percent representation in the recently dissolved parliament and 7 percent at local government level,” Katebe stated.

She argued that the time to change the narrative was now, while adoptions were under way.

Katebe warned against using Proportional Representation seats to deny women access to the 226 First-Past-the-Post seats.

“Parliamentary seats should complement, not replace, genuine adoption. Restricting women to PR seats risks structural exclusion disguised as inclusion,” she said.

Katebe said Zambia should honour its commitments under the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, noting that the Sustainable Development Goals demand at least 50 percent representation.

She concluded by saying that NGOCC would continue monitoring and publicly reporting adoption processes by gender, constituency type, and party stronghold, and urged parties to deliver on inclusive democracy.

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