Zambia holds general polls this week after an election campaign marred by deadly clashes between rival political groups, police restrictions and repression, and state-sponsored violent intimidation against opposition candidates. These practices reflect an unfair electoral playing field skewed in favor of the incumbent, as is common in hybrid authoritarian regimes, per HRF’s #TyrannyTracker.
In the presidential ballot, incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema is seeking a second term against main opposition challenger Brian Mundubile. Campaigning has seen deadly clashes between rival supporters, as well as a pattern of systematic restrictions of opposition rallies and violent intimidation of opposition candidates and supporters by the police and groups aligned with the ruling party.
These concerns speak to a pattern of authoritarian repression that followed Hichelema’s democratic election in 2021, shattering early hopes that he would be a democratic reformer, per Wiriranai Brilliant Masara @billywmasara.
Explore how Zambia fares on electoral competition, freedom of dissent, and institutional accountability in HRF’s #TyrannyTracker.
