Office extract for citation on panduleniitula.com (draft). Ligature and line-break cleanup only. Media-inquiry footers and party profile copy from the PDF are not reprinted. Some office PDFs print Independence Patriots or Leader of the Official Opposition; this site keeps Independent Patriots for Change and does not treat the opposition-leader heading as a finding. This extract is the office wording, not a finding of this site.

Filename as supplied: PRESS STATEMENT_PRESIDENT_ZAMBIA.pdf
19 AUGUST 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

IPC CONGRATULATES ZAMBIA AND CALLS FOR FULL ELECTORAL TRANSPARENCY

1. On behalf of the Independent Patriots for Change, I congratulate His
Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema on being declared, re-elected
by the Electoral Commission of Zambia following the general election of 13
August 2026. We wish him wisdom and success in serving every Zambian,
including those who voted against him.

2. We also salute every candidate who placed themselves before the
electorate. Honourable Brian Mundubile deserves particular recognition
for the campaign he led, and for the 1,856,217 Zambians who stood behind
it. Southern Africa needs constitutional opposition that is organised,
peaceful and persistent. Citizens must always have a credible alternative.

3. The preliminary findings of the SADC Electoral Observation Mission give
Zambia credit where it is due. Observers found the atmosphere calm and
peaceful at 275 of the 277 polling stations they visited.

4. They commended the Electoral Commission’s preparation and the
transparent verification and custody of electoral materials. At all 17 counts
they observed, party and candidate agents were permitted to remain
throughout.

5. The same report records concerns that require serious attention. At some
polling stations the voter’s national registration number was written on the
ballot paper issued to that voter,  a direct compromise of the secret ballot.

Ballot reconciliation was completed at only 14 of the 17 stations observed
at closing, and results were announced at the station in only 13.

6. Counting and the announcement of results were suspended on 14 August,
and SADC could not observe counting and collation during that
suspension. The Mission has reserved its assessment of results management
for its final report. We note too that 277 stations out of 13,529 is a narrow
window, and we say plainly that no observation mission of that size can
certify a national count.

7. We await the final report, the Electoral Commission of Zambia should
answer every material concern publicly and ensure that the complete
results record remains accessible and auditable.

8. Honourable Mundubile has indicated that he holds information concerning
the alteration of polling-station result forms, and intends to pursue the
remedies provided by law. That is his right, and we defend it without
reservation.

9. The IPC has walked that road too. In 2024 we took our own concerns to the
Supreme Court of Namibia, and on 28 February 2025 that Court dismissed
our challenge and held the extension of polling lawful. We accepted the
judgment. We did not accept the proposition that a petition is the noise of
a bad loser. It is a democracy auditing itself.

10. Namibia should study both the strengths and the warnings. The example
worth copying is the simplest one and it costs the Treasury nothing, Zambia
read its national result out loud, in a hall, with the parties in the room. Every
polling-station result should be signed and displayed at the station.

11. Accredited party agents should receive copies in their hands.
Constituency results should be published promptly, and the entire trail from

polling station to national declaration should remain open to verification.
Our electoral institutions must make these safeguards routine rather than
discretionary.

12. We note that Dr Elsie Nghikembua, Chairperson of the Electoral
Commission of Namibia and Chairperson of the ECF-SADC Executive
Committee, served as Deputy Head of the ECF-SADC Election Observer
Mission to this election.

13. She is the only Namibian named in that delegation. She has therefore seen
at first hand both what Zambia did well and where it fell short, and she
carries that learning back not only to our own Commission but to the Forum
she chairs. We invite her to say publicly what the Commission intends to
adopt before Namibians vote again. Democracy is kept alive by winners
who govern with restraint, opponents who persist lawfully, and institutions
willing to show their work.

14. We congratulate President Hichilema, Honourable Mundubile, all who
contested, and above all the people of Zambia. May Zambia move
forward in peace.

Namibia is all we have.
Namibia is not for sale.
We must and can save it

ISSUED BY: DR. PANDULENI ITULA
PRESIDENT AND LEADER OF THE OFFICIAL OPPOSITION IN THE REPUBLIC OF
NAMIBIA