Nominations morning: Kapata files to take Mandevu back, the UPND answers with Adrian Banda — and the road to 5 November officially opens

The speculation ends at the nomination desk. The Electoral Commission of Zambia receives papers today for the first electoral contests since the 13 August general election: the Mandevu and Lumezi North parliamentary by-elections, the Mbala mayoral race, and eleven council ward contests spread across Luapula, Muchinga, North-Western, Western and Southern provinces. Nomination fees range from K10,000 for ward candidates to K17,000 at the top of the ticket; campaigning opens on Saturday, 10 October, and closes on 4 November, with polling on Thursday, 5 November.

Mandevu is the day's marquee filing. The Tonse Pamodzi alliance is fielding Jean Kapata, who represented the constituency for fifteen years — from 2006 until her 2021 defeat — and returns asking Lusaka's biggest township seat for a second act. The ruling UPND answers with Adrian Banda, its newly unveiled candidate, while the Leadership Movement has put forward Ntazana Musukuma. A three-way contest in a constituency that has changed hands before is exactly the kind of race where organisation, not fame, collects the votes.

Lumezi North runs on special rules. The vacancy arose when the duly nominated candidate, Clement Mwale, died before polling, and the ECZ invoked Article 52(c) of the Constitution: fresh nominations were called, but only for parties that had not already fielded a candidate. By the close of the fresh window, only the NRPUP had filed; the UPND's Anderson Banda and the Leadership Movement's Nebby Manda, validly nominated the first time, remain on the ballot without re-filing. In Mbala, the UPND's mayoral candidate is Felix Mulwanda, confirmed after the party's adoption meetings this week.

The commission's week has been about temperature as much as paper. District electoral officers have spent the past days preaching peace to party structures — the ECZ's Kagoli among those publicly urging candidates and their supporters to keep the campaigns clean — mindful that these fourteen small ballots will be read as a verdict on whether post-August Zambia can hold a low-stakes vote without incident. Nominations close this afternoon; the certified candidate lists are expected within days. Fourteen ballots, one Thursday, and a month of noise to follow.

Sources: Electoral Commission of Zambia notices on nominations and the 5 November polling date (Sep–Oct 2026); Lusaka Times, "UPND names Bandas and Mulwanda for by-elections" (Oct 2026) and coverage of Tonse Pamodzi's Mandevu candidate (Oct 2026); Times of Zambia on the Article 52(c) procedure in Lumezi North (Oct 2026); ECZ district officers' peace appeals (Oct 2026).