Dear Readers We are pleased to bring to you this edition of The Zimbabwe Briefing which focuses on the Zambian elections held on August 12, 2021. In coming up with this edition, we are motivated by the fact that there are a lot of positives that Zimbabwe can draw for the Zambian elections. This is so especially in light of the fact that Zimbabwe has witnessed a series of elections that have largely failed the credibility test; elections that have been characterized by murder,

Image credit: REUTERS/Rogan Ward By Glanis Changachirere and Darlington Muyambwa Introduction The outcome of the elections in Zambia, which were held on August 12, 2021, elated many pro-democracy forces, especially those struggling against despotic rulers. Closer home, Zimbabweans have watched with admiration and motivation the possibility of a successful democratic transition. While various opinions have come upon how the case of Zambia is not comparable to Zimbabwe, there a

Image Credit: UPND By Pride Mkono Introduction Zambia went to the polls on 12 August 2021 and after some tense period, the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) Alliance led by longtime opposition stalwart, Hakainde Hichilema swept to victory. In the Presidential poll, Hichilema resoundingly defeated incumbent Edgar Lungu garnering almost 60% of the total vote casts at 2,810,777 to Lungu’s 1,814,201 votes. In the Parliamentary election, the UPND Alliance obt

Photograph: Patrick Meinhardt/AFP By Sitabile Dewa; WALPE Executive Director and Observer to the Zambian election\ On 12 August 2021, the people of Zambia came out in their numbers to vote for the President, 156 Members of Parliament and mayors of major towns and cities as well as council chairs and councillors of local authorities. On 16 August 2021, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) announced the election results in favour of the opposition party candidate Hakainde H

By Njabulo Ncube "Who Takes It?, Zambia Decides, Choose Peace. Vote for Leaders of Your Choice." These were some of the headlines in Zambia’s major newspapers as citizens trudged to cast their votes in a historic general election held on Thursday, August 12, 2021. While there were unfortunate internet restrictions on the day of the election and the following day, Friday, August 13, 2021, as results trickled in from across Zambia, winds of change were palatable in both the pub

[image: Tendai Marima/Al Jazeera] By Gift Ostallos Siziba As Zambia entered into a glorious shadow of a genuine new dispensation, the whole world is all eyes and celebrating with the people of Zambia. This is not the first time for Zambia to have a smooth transfer of power from one political party to another. It started with the late Kenneth Kaunda, who is praised for introducing multi-party democracy by subsequently accepting defeat in 1991. Such is the beauty of democracy,