The Constitutional Court has dismissed former President Edgar Lungu’s application to have his eligibility case dismissed. The question will now have to be considered and heard at a full trial.
Delivering the verdict today in a matter where a citizen, Michelo Chizombe, contested whether Lungu was eligible to contest the 2021 elections, which he lost to the incumbent Republican President Hakainde Hichilema, the ConCourt resolved to send the case of Lungu’s eligibility to be heard in a full trial, possibly before a single judge, as there could be new arguments raised on the matter.
Lungu had applied to the Constitutional Court to dismiss the petition, claiming it was an abuse of court process, which had also raised absurdities.
This morning, Constitutional Court Justice Mudford Zachariah Mwandenga read the verdict on the preliminary matter.
Commenting on the verdict, Lungu’s lawyer Makebi Zulu said, “The court has been rehearing the case three times before and the court cannot continue hearing the same matter but the court today has come up with the ruling to say there a lot of contentious issues that have been raised by the petitioner as well as ourselves and they’d not be inclined to dismiss it as a preliminary issue but they are inclined to hear the whole matter so that they can come up with a final determination. That is the stage at which we are at,” Lungu’s lawyer Makebi Zulu said.
“We will be appearing before a single judge to tell us or to schedule when the main matter will be heard and when that is done, we will let you know.”
Lungu’s eligibility for presidential office has been before the Constitutional Court. In 2021, ahead of the 2021 general election, the same court rendered a verdict which many commentators decry as not having actually answered the question that was set before it and giving rise to other actions for determination of his eligibility.
Meanwhile, several police officers were this morning deployed around the Supreme Court premises as per directive issued by the Minister of Home Affairs Jack Mwiimbu on Sunday in a bid to thwart potential unruly behavior from the former president’s supporters and party cadres, who had mobilized themselves and planned to march to the Supreme Court to offer their support and solidarity to the respondent.
