APRNEWS - Zambia’s Constitutional Court on Friday ruled that President Edgar Lungu can stand for the third time as president in 2021.

Four political parties had petitioned the Constitutional Court, seeking a declaration that President Edgar Lungu is eligible to contest in the 2021 presidential elections.

Lungu who was first elected in January 2015 after the death of President Michael Sata, served for one year and 6 months during his first term as president.

He was then re-elected for a second term which began on September 13, 2016 following his victory in the August polls.

The opposition had argued that Lungu’s third term would violate the Zambian constitution which states that “a person who has twice been elected as President shall not be eligible for re-election to that office”.

Lungu argued that the constitution says a president is only deemed to have served a term if he is in office for at least three years of the full five-year term.

With Africanews