{"id":79371,"date":"2025-12-20T23:37:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T23:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/composition-of-the-national-assembly-and-pr-member-appointments"},"modified":"2025-12-20T23:40:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T23:40:16","slug":"composition-of-the-national-assembly-and-pr-member-appointments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/composition-of-the-national-assembly-and-pr-member-appointments","title":{"rendered":"Composition of the National Assembly and PR Member Appointments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>As amended, Article 68 of the Constitution (once the President Assents) will provide for a more inclusive, balanced, and democratically grounded National Assembly.<\/p>\n

1. Overall Composition of the National Assembly<\/p>\n

Article 68 establishes that the National Assembly shall consist of:<\/p>\n

(a) 226 Members of Parliament elected from constituencies through direct elections;<\/p>\n

(b) 40 Members of Parliament elected under proportional representation (PR), broken down as:<\/p>\n

(i) 20 women,<\/p>\n

(ii) 15 youths, and<\/p>\n

(iii) 5 persons with disabilities (PWDs);<\/p>\n

(iv) Not more than 11 nominated Members of Parliament;<\/p>\n

(v) The Vice-President;<\/p>\n

(vi) The Speaker; and<\/p>\n

(vii) The First and Second Deputy Speakers.<\/p>\n

2. How the 40 Proportional Representation MPs Are Selected<\/p>\n

The 40 PR MPs are not appointed by the President, nor are they elected through constituency ballots. They are elected indirectly through proportional representation, based on national election results.<\/p>\n

Step-by-step process:<\/p>\n

1. Submission of Party Lists<\/p>\n

Before the general election, each political party submits to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ):<\/p>\n

(a) A ranked list of candidates for women, youth, and persons with disabilities;<\/p>\n

(b) These lists must comply with constitutional and statutory requirements.<\/p>\n

2. National Vote Determines Allocation<\/p>\n

During the general election, voters cast ballots for political parties (through constituency votes).<\/p>\n

ECZ then calculates each party\u2019s percentage share of the national vote.<\/p>\n

3. Allocation of PR Seats<\/p>\n

The 40 PR seats are allocated to parties in proportion to their national vote share.<\/p>\n

A party that secures a higher percentage of votes nationally receives more PR seats.<\/p>\n

4. Selection from Party Lists<\/p>\n

Once the number of seats per party is determined, ECZ fills those seats from the party\u2019s submitted lists, starting from the top, while observing:<\/p>\n

(i) 20 women,<\/p>\n

(ii) 15 youths,<\/p>\n

(iii) 5 persons with disabilities.<\/p>\n

In short: voters do not vote for PR candidates by name; they vote for parties, and seats follow the votes.<\/p>\n

3. Article 68(2): Limitation on Nominated Members of Parliament<\/p>\n

Article 68(2) introduces a constitutional ceiling on nominated MPs:<\/p>\n

(a) Nominated MPs must not exceed five percent of constituency-based MPs.<\/p>\n

(b) With 226 elected constituency MPs, the maximum number of nominated MPs is 11.<\/p>\n

Why this matters:<\/p>\n

(a) It restrains executive discretion in appointing MPs;<\/p>\n

(b) It preserves the dominance of elected representation in Parliament;<\/p>\n

(c) It ensures that inclusivity is achieved primarily through proportional representation, not presidential nomination.<\/p>\n

4. Constitutional Balance Achieved by Article 68<\/p>\n

Taken together, Article 68:<\/p>\n

(a) Expands Parliament to better reflect women, youth, and persons with disabilities;<\/p>\n

(b) Ensures that 40 PR MPs are elected through a transparent, vote-based system, not appointed;<\/p>\n

(c) Constitutionally limits nominated MPs, protecting legislative independence and democratic legitimacy.<\/p>\n

Bottom Line<\/p>\n

(a) 226 MPs directly elected by constituencies<\/p>\n

(b) 40 MPs elected indirectly through proportional representation based on national votes<\/p>\n

(c) Up to 11 MPs nominated by the President, strictly capped by Article 68(2)<\/p>\n

This framework strengthens inclusion while tightening constitutional controls over executive influence.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. As amended, Article 68 of the Constitution (once the President Assents) will provide for a more inclusive, balanced, and democratically grounded National Assembly. 1. Overall Composition of the National Assembly Article 68 establishes that the National Assembly shall consist of: (a) 226 Members of Parliament elected from constituencies through direct elections; (b) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":79370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12,248],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-79371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-to-homepage","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nComposition of the National Assembly and PR Member Appointments - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As amended, Article 68 of the Constitution (once the President Assents) will provide for a more inclusive, balanced, and ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/composition-of-the-national-assembly-and-pr-member-appointments\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Composition of the National Assembly and PR Member Appointments\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As amended, Article 68 of the Constitution (once the President Assents) will provide for a more inclusive, balanced, and ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/composition-of-the-national-assembly-and-pr-member-appointments\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-20T23:37:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-20T23:40:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2025\/12\/sm_1766273989.364473.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"493\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/composition-of-the-national-assembly-and-pr-member-appointments#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/composition-of-the-national-assembly-and-pr-member-appointments\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Composition of the National Assembly and PR Member Appointments\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-20T23:37:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-20T23:40:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/composition-of-the-national-assembly-and-pr-member-appointments\"},\"wordCount\":469,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/composition-of-the-national-assembly-and-pr-member-appointments#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2025\/12\/sm_1766273989.364473.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/composition-of-the-national-assembly-and-pr-member-appointments#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/composition-of-the-national-assembly-and-pr-member-appointments\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/composition-of-the-national-assembly-and-pr-member-appointments\",\"name\":\"Composition of the National Assembly and PR Member Appointments - 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