By 
Gary Nkombo, Dr. Chitalu Chilufya and 103 other parliamentary candidates will remain on the ballot for the August 13 general elections after the Lusaka High Court dismissed a petition seeking to invalidate their nominations as independent candidates.
The petition, filed by governance activist Isaac Mwanza and the Consortium of Civil Societies for Good Governance and Constitutionalism, was thrown out after the court found that it had not complied with mandatory procedural requirements governing election petitions.
High Court Judge Justice Kelvin Limbani ruled that the petition was incompetent before the court because the petitioners failed to file essential documents required under Rule 4(3) of the High Court (Election Petition) Rules, 2026.
The judge explained that nomination petitions must be accompanied by an affidavit verifying facts, skeleton arguments, a list of authorities, copies of authorities, and supporting documents at the time of filing.
Justice Limbani stated that the rules use the word “shall”, making compliance mandatory rather than optional.
He said the omission was fatal to the petition and deprived the court of jurisdiction to hear and determine the matter.
The court further noted that the strict filing requirements were intended to ensure election disputes are resolved expeditiously within the limited time prescribed by law and that respondents are fully informed of the case they are required to answer.
In their petition, Mwanza and the Consortium challenged the nominations of 105 candidates, among them Dr. Chilufya, Nkombo, Miles Sampa and Alexios Mulemba.
They argued that the candidates breached Article 51(a) of the Constitution by filing nominations as independent candidates while allegedly remaining members of political parties.
The petitioners further alleged that some candidates continued participating in party activities and publicly identifying themselves with political organisations after filing their nominations.
They also accused the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) of violating the Constitution and the Electoral Process Act by accepting nominations without proof that the candidates had resigned from their respective political parties.
The petition sought declarations that the nominations were unconstitutional, null and void and an order compelling the ECZ to remove the affected candidates from the parliamentary ballot.
Consequently, Justice Limbani dismissed the petition after finding it incompetent before the court, stating that there was no need to consider the remaining applications once the main action had failed.
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