Africa-Press – Zambia. Patriotic Front Acting President Given Lubinda has thrown fresh uncertainty into the Chawama by-election after confirming that the party, under the Tonse Alliance, is yet to decide whether it will participate. The poll, announced by the Electoral Commission of Zambia for January 15, 2026, is no ordinary contest. It rises from the vacancy left by Tasila Lungu, whose parliamentary absence followed the death of her father, former President resident Edgar Lungu, and the legal storm that followed.
Lubinda’s language is steeped in grievance and moral protest. He has framed the by-election not as a routine democratic process but as an emotional and cultural rupture. His remark that it is “taboo” for MPs to sit in Parliament “drinking tea while Ms Lungu’s father was lying in the mortuary” is calculated to recast the by-election as ethically compromised before it even begins. It shifts the battlefield from law to morality, from procedure to grief.
Politically, this hesitation exposes the depth of PF’s internal dislocation. A party that once treated Lusaka as hostile territory now faces a symbolic test in Chawama, a constituency historically linked to both Edgar and Tasila Lungu. Participation would signal survival and defiance. A boycott would signal retreat, protest, and possibly strategic exhaustion. Either path carries risk.
This is where the shadow of Davies Mwila looms large. Though condemned by party officials and threatened with legal action over his recent remarks, Mwila’s central prophecy remains intact. That PF is racing against time and falling apart under the weight of leadership disputes. What Lubinda now calls deliberation increasingly looks like paralysis, the very condition Mwila warned would cost the party 2026.
The by-election also hands the ruling United Party for National Development a low-risk but high-value terrain test. Chawama is not just a seat. It is a Lusaka signal. A win would embolden UPND’s urban confidence. A loss would expose vulnerability in a city that shapes national momentum. PF’s absence would hand that advantage without a fight.
Lubinda’s argument that the vacancy itself is tainted by litigation reveals another legal tension. While courts and Parliament grind through procedure, PF is urging the public to view the process as politically engineered. This duality of legality versus legitimacy is now central to the opposition narrative. But elections are won by turnout and organization, not by moral protest alone.
The Tonse Alliance complicates matters further. A decision not to contest would not only affect PF but expose whether Tonse is still an operative electoral machine or only a political memory. Silence at nomination stage would confirm that Tonse exists more on paper than on the ground.
In the end, Chawama is no longer just a by-election. It is a stress test of PF’s coherence, Lubinda’s authority, Mwila’s prophecy, and the opposition’s readiness for 2026. Avoiding the contest may protect wounded emotions. It will not protect political relevance.
For More News And Analysis About Zambia Follow Africa-Press
