Zambia president approves law expanding parliament months before election

LUSAKA, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema on Thursday signed into law constitutional changes that will expand the country’s parliament, in a move that critics say could favour his party, eight months before a national election.

The changes increase the number of members of parliament to around 280 from 167 currently by creating more constituencies, reserving 40 new seats for women, youth and people with disabilities, and allowing the president to appoint 11 members instead of eight previously.

Critics including the local Catholic Church say the changes could favour Hichilema’s party in the August 2026 presidential and parliamentary elections and were rushed through parliament.

Hichilema, who will run for a second presidential term in the election, said during a signing ceremony that the changes were being made in good faith and there was adequate consultation.

He previously argued that some constituencies were too big for effective service delivery and should be split into smaller ones.

Civil rights’ activist Brebner Changala told Reuters that Hichilema’s party could use the constitutional changes to its advantage in the coming elections.

“The main desire is to entrench power by doing more delimitation in the ruling party’s strongholds,” Changala said.

Some opposition politicians have also criticised the move to increase the number of members of parliament at a time when the country is still emerging from a protracted debt crisis.

(Reporting by Chris Mfula;Editing by Alexander Winning and Susan Fenton)