A Constitution Amendment Bill, also known as Bill no.10, has failed to get the support of two-thirds of Members of the Parliament of Zambia. The bill which will allow the current head of state, Edgar Lungu, to change the electoral layout and take control of central bank monetary policy, fell short by 6 votes.

Opposition lawmakers led by the largest party, the United Party for National Development (UPND) snubbed the parliamentary session. UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema celebrated the failure of the bilvia his Facebook post describing the process surrounding the attempted enactment of Bill 10 as one that has “polarised our communities,perhaps to levels never seen since our independence in 1964” and called for the unity of Zambians in embracing change. 

What Next for Zambia?

Key priority areas for the current government will be to stabilize the economy of Zambia, improve the life of its citizens as well as work to regain the trust of the public towards government as elections are scheduled to hold in another ten months. While the country remains the second largest producer of copper in Africa with huge investments from China, external debt has surged in Zambia and two thirds the country’s population live in poverty. A condition that has now been worsened by the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Governance in Zambia

President Edgar Lungu of the ruling Patriotic Front became the sixth president of Zambia in January 2015 after winning a narrow election victory to replace former President Michael Sata, who died in office. Mr Lungu has widely been accused of sliding Zambia into an authoritarian rule and crippling the democratic gains of the country, post-independence. Zambia has generally been described in recent history as a politically stable country, with high economic growth and a budding democracy until Mr Lungu came into power. He will be running for office again in 2021.