The Editor Zambia
The Commonwealth and other international organisations must be careful not to become unwitting participants in Zambia’s post-election political disputes.
Zambia is a sovereign State whose citizens went to the polls on 13 August and exercised their democratic right to choose their president. 
Once the constitutional electoral process has produced a result, the starting point for every international partner should be respect for the will of the Zambian people, while recognising that legitimate legal challenges must be handled through the courts and established constitutional institutions.
The Commonwealth has expressed concern about the post-election situation and called for full respect for human rights, the rule of law, due process, and restraint.
Those principles are important and should apply without exception. However, human rights cannot be interpreted as protecting only those who lost an election.
The rights of the millions of Zambians who voted for the winner deserve exactly the same respect because democracy is ultimately about allowing citizens to choose their leaders, and the losing side cannot indefinitely hold the entire country hostage simply because it disagrees with the outcome.
There is also a serious danger when international institutions appear to give disproportionate weight to narratives circulating on social media or to the claims of opposition figures living outside the country.
People such as Sishuwa Sishuwa, Emmanuel Mwamba, Given Mutunta, and Emmanuel Jay Banda are serial critics of President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND and have publicly positioned themselves as authorities on what they deem Zambia’s political crisis.
However, international organisations should independently verify every allegation rather than treating statements from politically interested individuals as established fact.
Allegations concerning instability, arrests, militias, or political repression must be investigated against evidence, not amplified merely because they are repeated loudly online.
Zambia should also not ignore inflammatory declarations from political actors like Binwell Mpundu, who have spoken publicly in a language, suggesting a willingness to kill or be killed over an electoral dispute.
Such statements are dangerous in any democracy because an election is not a battlefield, and political disagreement must never become a justification for violence.
Anyone making threats of violence should expect lawful investigation, regardless of political affiliation.
The government’s greatest mistake may have been its excessive tolerance of conduct that could threaten national stability. A democratic government must protect both civil liberties and national security. Those responsibilities are not contradictory.
The Commonwealth itself should recognise that protecting democracy sometimes requires confronting individuals or groups seeking to undermine constitutional government through violence, especially when it involves using the militia.
International organisations should, therefore, resist the temptation to substitute social media narratives for evidence.
They should engage the Zambian government, opposition parties, civil society, and ordinary citizens while respecting the institutions established by Zambia’s Constitution.
The Commonwealth is an association of sovereign and equal states, not an alternative government for its member countries.
There is a winner and a loser in every competitive election and losing an election does not mean that one’s rights have disappeared, but neither does losing give anyone the right to overturn the democratic choice of millions through intimidation, violence or endless agitation.
Rights operate within a society where one person’s freedom ends where another person’s rights and security begin.
Zambians have spoken through the ballot, and those who did not prevail should regroup, persuade voters, and return stronger at the next election in 2031.
Those outside Zambia who genuinely care about the country’s democracy should encourage constitutional politics rather than political destabilisation.
Zambia’s democracy belongs first and foremost to Zambians, and the international community must respect that fundamental truth.
