Unopposed at the top, a ballot for the second chair: Mutti keeps the gavel, Chisangano beside her — and Mufumbwe's independent takes the third seat

The Fourteenth Assembly did the only thing the Standing Orders allowed it to do on Friday, and did most of it without argument. Dr Nelly Butete Kashumba Mutti was re-elected Speaker of the National Assembly unopposed, retaining the office she has held since 2021 as the country's first woman Speaker; Attractor Malungo Chisangano was likewise returned unopposed as First Deputy Speaker. Parliament confirmed the elections in a statement published after the sitting, ending — exactly as this newspaper forecast on Friday morning — with the Clerk handing over a chamber that finally had its presiding officers.

The day's single contest came for the second deputy's chair, and it produced the widest margin of the morning. Nshamba Mulondwe Muzungu, the Mufumbwe MP who sits as an independent, polled 166 votes against 58 for Chipangali MP Vincent Mwale, according to official results announced at the First Sitting of the First Session. A total of 229 votes were cast and five ballots rejected. Muzungu, elected from among elected members under Article 82 of the Constitution, succeeds Moses Moyo, and took the oath of office before the day closed.

The House they will preside over is the one the 2025 constitutional amendments built: 226 constituency seats after delimitation, plus 40 proportional-representation seats — though two constituencies, Mandevu and Lumezi North, still await the 5 November by-elections before the assembly is at full complement. On Friday morning, as this newspaper reported, the House could transact nothing until it had a Speaker; by Friday evening it had three presiding officers and a summons to State House.

President Hichilema received the trio at what State House styled a presidential approbation ceremony on Friday afternoon, congratulating them and setting the tone for the session he will open next week. He called on all parliamentarians to support the Grow Zambia Agenda, saying Parliament should enact laws that advance it, and said his government would continue its reforms across energy, mining and education. "To you Madam Speaker of the National Assembly, through your guidance in the house must embed the one Zambia, one nation and one people motto consciously," he said, adding that no lawmaker was second to another and that the House owed the country constructive cooperation over conflict.

The President also dwelt on the composition of the chamber that had just voted, describing Friday's elections as historic for the diversity of the House that conducted them — among its members, he noted, are 20 women, 15 young people and five persons with disabilities seated under the mixed-member proportional representation introduced by the constitutional reforms, a change he called revolutionary. "I have no doubt that the composition reflects the will and a clear endorsement from the Zambian people," he said.

With the chair settled, the calendar accelerates. President Hichilema opens the session on Friday, 9 October, with the address that converts the campaign's promises into a legislative programme; the opposition benches, meanwhile, must still settle who leads them in the House. The Fourteenth Assembly's first day belonged to procedure and ceremony. The argument begins next week.

Sources: National Assembly of Zambia, statement on the election of presiding officers of the Fourteenth Assembly, parliament.gov.zm (2 Oct 2026); Mwebantu, "Mufumbwe MP Nshamba Muzungu elected Second Deputy Speaker with 166 votes" (2 Oct 2026); Zambia Daily Mail on the Second Deputy Speaker's oath of office (2 Oct 2026); Lusaka Times, "President Hichilema Calls On Parliamentarians To Support Grow Zambia Agenda" (2 Oct 2026); Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act No. 13 of 2025; Lusaka Brief archive.