The Mandevu by-election, which has already lost its ballot, may now gain a court case. Kasonde Mwenda, the president of the Economic Freedom Fighters, has asked the High Court for leave to apply for judicial review of the Electoral Commission of Zambia's decisions on the constituency and for a stay of the election set for Thursday 5 November, according to reports in Zambia Monitor and the Zambian Observer on Tuesday.
The application was filed ex parte at the Principal Registry in Lusaka and stamped on Monday 2 November, under case number 2026/HTR/1316, Zambia Monitor reports. The Commission is the first respondent and the Attorney-General the second. It is brought under Order 53 of the Rules of the Supreme Court and cites several articles of the Constitution.
The argument
Mwenda's case goes to the root of the by-election rather than to the withdrawals that emptied it. He challenges the Commission's decision of 28 August to abandon the earlier process in Mandevu, together with the later notices and directions for a fresh poll. His position, as reported, is that the Commission acted beyond its mandate and took to itself a power that belongs to the High Court: the power to set aside an election. In the words Zambia Monitor quotes from the application, there is no legal provision or authority empowering the Commission to take the action it has taken.
He asks for the election to be stayed until the court has resolved the legal questions. The Zambian Observer notes that its report describes a filing only and that nothing in it indicates the court has granted an order stopping the poll.
How Mandevu got here
The Commission's own account of August, as the Zambian Observer set it out last week, is that criminals attacked the constituency's results-tallying centre on the night of the general election, destroyed data transmission equipment and stole election documents, rendering the process null and void; soldiers were deployed. Before the disruption the seat had been held by the UPND's Christopher Shakafuswa, and the contest was between Jean Kapata for the Resolute Party on the Tonse Alliance ticket and Adrian Banda, then an independent. Banda later joined the UPND and was adopted as its candidate for the rerun.
That rerun has since dissolved. Three candidates wrote to the Commission to withdraw: the former Lusaka mayor Daniel Chisenga, who was standing for the Forum for Democracy and Development on the Tonse ticket, the independent Daniel Daka, and Ntazana Muntungwa of the Leadership Movement. With one valid candidate left, the Commission will declare Banda elected rather than hold a vote. The same has happened in Lumezi North and in the Mbala mayoral by-election, where Felix Mulwanda of the UPND is to be declared mayor on Thursday after his only rival withdrew.
Voting does go ahead on Thursday in six wards in five districts, Commissioner Zevyanji Sinkala told poll staff in training at Lwingishi Ward in Mansa on Saturday, News Diggers reported; the UPND is unopposed in five others, Maako, Siluwe, Upangoma, Mulimambango and Simanvwa.
On Wednesday morning News Diggers devoted its editorial to the walkovers, arguing that the Commission may be following the 2016 regulations to the letter but that procedural compliance does not answer the question of how the withdrawals came about, and calling for the Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate. Whether the High Court entertains Mwenda's application before Thursday is the first thing to watch.
Sources: Zambia Monitor, “Party leader, Mwenda, drags ECZ to court over decision on Mandevu poll” (3 Nov 2026); Zambian Observer, “KASONDE MWENDA ASKS HIGH COURT TO HALT MANDEVU POLL” (3 Nov 2026); Zambian Observer, “UPND SCOOPS MANDEVU CONSTITUENCY BY-ELECTION VIA WITHDRAW METHOD” (29 Oct 2026); News Diggers, “ECZ to hold 6 local govt by-elections on Nov 5” (1 Nov 2026); News Diggers, “Elections without voting defeat democracy, ACC must investigate” (4 Nov 2026).