Zambia: Closing Courts Curbs Access to Justice

Human Rights Watch documents that Zambian authorities closed and cordoned off the courts on 24 August 2026, which it records as the last day on which a petition challenging the presidential result declared on 18 August could lawfully have been filed under Article 103 of the Constitution. A notice from the chief administrator of the judiciary to court staff, seen by Human Rights Watch, said the court premises were closed 'for security reasons', with guidance on reopening to follow 'once the situation is contained'; police described the closure as an 'intelligence-led and preventive measure' without giving details. A lawyer told Human Rights Watch he found the High Court in Lusaka cordoned off by heavily armed police on the morning of 24 August, and seven Zambian civil society organisations said court premises had been sealed across the country and judicial services suspended entirely. Human Rights Watch gives the official tally as 60.7 per cent for Hichilema and 38 per cent for Mundubile, and records that Mundubile had alleged 'inconsistencies and circumstances surrounding the conduct, counting, transmission, and declaration of results' and had said he would challenge the results in court.