The Editor Zambia
The attempt by the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance to enlist the African Union to halt President Hakainde Hichilema’s inauguration is nothing more than a desperate effort to reopen a political contest that the Zambian people have already settled at the ballot box.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) declared President Hichilema the winner of the August 13 presidential election after he secured 2,965,326 votes against Brian Mundubile’s 1,856,217—a margin of more than 1.1 million votes. 
That is not a narrow or ambiguous electoral verdict but a decisive mandate.
There is a profound difference between exercising a legal right to petition and demanding that the entire constitutional order be suspended simply because one has rejected an electoral outcome.
The Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance can not simultaneously claim to believe in constitutional democracy while seeking to prevent the constitutional transfer of power.
Most significantly, the international community has already recognised President Hichilema’s re-election with the United States congratulating him and going further to say it looks forward to continuing its partnership with his administration.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has also formally congratulated President Hichilema on his re-election and expressed his readiness to deepen China-Zambia cooperation during the President’s second term.
Egypt has now joined that growing list with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi congratulating Hichilema on his re-election and praising the confidence placed in him by the Zambian people.
These are not insignificant diplomatic gestures but demonstrate that Zambia’s election has been recognised internationally as producing a new presidential mandate.
Indeed, congratulations have come from across Africa and beyond, including regional leaders and the African Union family.
The opposition, therefore, needs to ask itself a simple question: What precisely does it hope to achieve by transforming an electoral disagreement into an international political crisis?
If there are genuine irregularities, the courts are the appropriate arena, and again, even in courts, evidence should be presented, documents examined, and arguments tested against the Constitution and electoral law.
The opposition should know that allegations are not verdicts, political statements are not court judgments, and press conferences cannot overturn certified election results.
There is also a danger in portraying every institutional difficulty after an election as proof of a grand conspiracy.
Zambia must be careful not to create a political culture in which every losing candidate automatically declares an election stolen and then seeks external intervention to overturn the will of voters. That would be profoundly damaging to democracy.
The international community did not vote in Zambia. Zambians did. The ECZ counted the votes and declared the winner.
President Hichilema crossed the constitutional threshold required for victory and won by an overwhelming margin.
If the opposition believes the result is wrong, let it present its evidence through the lawful process.
But asking the AU to halt an inauguration before a competent court has invalidated the election amounts to putting the constitutional order on trial before the trial has even taken place.
Zambia cannot be governed by perpetual elections. The country needs stability, continuity, and respect for institutions. The September 1 inauguration should, therefore, proceed in accordance with the Constitution.
Opposition leaders have every right to disagree with President Hichilema. They have every right to criticise the ECZ. They have every right to pursue judicial remedies.
What they do not have is the right to convert political disappointment into an excuse for paralysing the republic.
The message from Washington, Beijing, Cairo, and numerous African capitals is unmistakable: the international community has recognised President Hichilema’s second mandate.
The Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance should now do the same—not because it has to abandon its political convictions, but because democracy means accepting the people’s verdict while pursuing disagreements through constitutional means.
Zambia belongs to all its citizens, and certainly not only to the losers alone. The country must now move forward.
