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A group of civil society organisations has notified the Zambia Police Service of its intention to hold a peaceful procession and public assembly on November 25, 2026, to defend the Constitution and presidential term limits.
The organisations include Chapter One Foundation, Transparency International Zambia, Council of Churches in Zambia, Zambia Council for Social Development, NGOCC, Caritas Zambia, ActionAid, Community Action, AAAZ, FPI and Freedom Foundation.
In a joint statement issued in Lusaka on Wednesday, titled “Joint CSO Statement on the Planned Peaceful Assembly in Defence of the Constitution and Presidential Term Limits”, the organisations said the gathering would provide citizens with an opportunity to express their views and reaffirm their commitment to constitutional democracy.
They said the planned assembly was intended to defend the Constitution and the existing presidential term limits.
“On 27 October 2026, fellow citizens exercised their constitutional rights to peaceful assembly and petitioned the National Assembly to abolish presidential term limits, among other proposals,” the statement said.
The organisations said they intended to exercise the same constitutional freedoms to express a contrary position.
“We respect their right to do so, notwithstanding our disagreement with their position,” they said.
The CSOs said Zambia’s commitment to presidential term limits was rooted in the country’s constitutional history, including the struggle to restore multiparty democracy and opposition to attempts to extend presidential tenure in 2001 and 2021.
They said the position had also been reaffirmed through successive constitutional review processes.
“If those voices mattered last year, they matter this year. Recently as 2025, two separate technical committees, following public consultations, recommended retaining the constitutional limit of two presidential terms of five years each,” the group said.
The organisations said presidential term limits remained an important safeguard against the excessive concentration and perpetuation of executive power.
They added that the Constitution belonged to all Zambians and that defending and protecting it was a collective responsibility.
The statement was signed by Josiah Kalala of Chapter One Foundation, Leah Mitaba of the Zambia Council for Social Development and Maurice Nyambe of Transparency International Zambia.
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