President Edgar Lungu has filed nomination papers to the ruling Patriotic Front secretariat as he vies for another attempt to run as the party’s presidential candidate in elections scheduled for August this year.
Patriotic Front secretary general Davis Mwila confirmed on Wednesday having received an application form from Lungu ahead of the party’s National Council and General Conference set for Saturday and Sunday.
“I have checked his documents and they are in line with the requirements, and he has paid the K10,000 (about US$452) application fee,” Mwila said.
Lungu won a 2018 court battle to run for a third term in office after the Constitutional Court ruled that he can legally contest the 2021 elections without contravening a two-term limit as set out in the country’s constitution.
Lungu’s first period in office lasted only one year and six months, when he took over after the death of the previous elected president, Michael Sata. He then won election in a disputed vote to a second, full term in August 2016.
Lungu’s supporters had argued that the constitution says a president is only deemed to have served a term if he was in office for at least three years of the full five-year term.
JN/APA