High Court dismisses Chongwe East election petition

An election challenge by NRPUP candidate Geoffrey Chumbwe against the victory of Chongwe East MP Anita Kamanga has been dismissed after the Lusaka High Court found that the petition was filed outside the mandatory 14-day period.

Chumbwe, who polled 3,185 votes against Kamanga’s 16,058, had argued that a mix-up at the court registry delayed the filing of his petition.

But Judge Evaristo Pengele rejected the explanation, saying there was no tangible evidence that such a mix-up had occurred.

The court heard that the Chongwe East election results were declared on Aug. 15, 2026, meaning the 14-day period for challenging the result expired on Aug. 28.

However, because Aug. 28 fell on a Saturday and Aug. 30 was a Sunday, the next non-excluded day for filing was Aug. 31.

Chumbwe’s petition was instead filed on Sept. 2, 2026.

Chumbwe subsequently applied for leave to serve the petition and pay security for costs out of time.

His lawyer, Daniel Mwaba, said in an affidavit supporting the application that documents had been taken to the Principal Registry in Lusaka on Aug. 31 for filing, but there was a mix-up at the Registry.

Mwaba said he was advised to collect the stamped documents later because the following day was a public holiday.

He said the petition was given a Wednesday date and the issue was brought to the attention of the Registry.

According to the affidavit, by Sept. 15, Chumbwe had still not received formal feedback from the Registry on whether he could proceed with serving the petition.

He argued that the failure to serve the petition and pay security for costs within five days was therefore not without good cause.

But Judge Pengele said the first issue before the court was whether Chumbwe’s petition had been filed within the period prescribed by Section 100(3) of the Electoral Process Act.

The judge said the provision uses the mandatory word “shall”, meaning a parliamentary election petition must be filed within 14 days after the declaration of election results.

“It follows that the second petitioner’s petition should not have been received by the Registry,” Judge Pengele said.

The judge also rejected the explanation surrounding the alleged registry mix-up.

“There is absolutely no tangible evidence to support the assertion that there was the alleged mix-up in the Registry when the petitioner went to file the petition on August 31, 2026,” he said.

Judge Pengele held that the petition was irregularly before the court and dismissed it for having been filed after expiry of the mandatory 14-day period.

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