By Brian Matambo – Lusaka, Zambia

State Counsel John Sangwa has stepped into the national spotlight with a bold demand for the revival and enactment of the Political Parties Bill, a constitutional requirement abandoned since 2017. With the 2026 General Elections fast approaching, Sangwa is warning that Zambia cannot afford to go to the polls under what he calls an outdated and unconstitutional framework.

The Legal Resources Foundation (LRF), where Sangwa is a founding member, has filed a petition in the Constitutional Court against both Parliament and the President, accusing them of failing to carry out their duty under Article 60(4) of the Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2016. Sangwa personally verified the petition, attaching the 2017 Draft Political Parties Bill as proof that the state knew its obligations but chose not to act.

The Bill itself was designed to give Zambia a modern legal framework for regulating political parties, replacing the colonial-era Societies Act which was never intended to govern institutions central to democracy. It sought to establish a Board of Political Parties and an independent Registrar, introduce a Political Parties Fund for equitable financial support, compel audited accounts and disclosure of funding sources, enforce internal democracy with gender inclusion, and regulate alliances, mergers, and deregistration of parties.

Without such a law, Zambia’s political parties remain trapped under an archaic system that allows executive interference and denies the opposition fair competition. Sangwa and other constitutional experts argue that this omission compromises free and fair elections, encourages weak internal party systems that often resemble family businesses, and removes accountability over sources of campaign funding. They warn that leaving the matter unresolved before 2026 risks undermining the credibility of the polls, both in the eyes of citizens and international observers.

The petition stresses that the omission was not accidental but a deliberate failure of duty by state institutions. “Both the President and Parliament were aware of their obligations and even drafted the Bill. To abandon it has undermined multiparty democracy and left Article 60(4) without effect,” the filing reads.

If the Constitutional Court rules in favour of the petition, Parliament and the President may be compelled to act before the next election cycle. Such a ruling would fundamentally reshape Zambia’s political landscape, potentially levelling the playing field between ruling and opposition parties for the first time in decades. For Sangwa, long known as a fearless constitutional defender, this is more than just a courtroom battle. It is a broader call to restore fairness, transparency, and accountability in Zambia’s governance, and to ensure that the principles of democracy are not hollow words but living guarantees.