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review, led by the Wila Mung’omba Constitu-
tion Review Commission. In December 2005, the
Mung’omba Commission produced a draft constitu-
tion and report. It was seen as progressive, and it
even made recommendations on the expansion of
the Bill of Rights. That being said, the whole process
was suspended until 2006.
The 2006 Constitutional review
In December 2006, a lengthy, 14-step roadmap for
constitutional change was presented, which would
be spread out over 5 years. The proposed changes
were also quite progressive; however, the constitu-
tional process was suspended again.
The 2011 Constitutional
review process
The late President Michael Chilufya Sata appointed
a technical committee to draft a new Zambian Con-
stitution. The Technical Committee began work on 1
December 2011, and the final draft includes the fol-
lowing points:
• Revised voting system:
changed from a plurality
system to the majority system, whereby a presi-
dential candidate must obtain 50+1% of total votes
in order to win the presidency.
• Mixed member representation electoral sys-
tem:
In parliament, 150 members elected from the
constituency, and 100 MPs elected through a party
list submitted by participating political parties to
the Electoral Commission of Zambia. This means
that Zambia will now have 250 elected MPs and 8
nominated MPs.
• Dual citizenship:
Article 18 of the final draft con-
stitution allows for dual citizenship.
• Capital punishment:
Article 28 (3) provides for
capital punishment.
• Diversity:
Article 3 states the belief that Zambia
should continue to remain a multi-racial, multi-cul-
tural, multi-religious, and unitary state.
• Dual classification of land:
According to Article,
297 (2), land is classified as being both of the state
and customary.
International relations
Zambia is a member of:
• The African Development Bank
• The African Growth Opportunity Act
• The African Union
• The Common Market for Eastern and Southern
Africa
• The Commonwealth
• The EU Economic Partnership Agreement
• The Food and Agricultural Organization
• The International Labour Organization
• The International Monetary Fund
• The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
• The New Partnership for Africa’s Development
• The Non-Aligned Movement
• The Southern African Development Community
• The United Nations
• The World Bank
• The World Health Organization
• The World Trade Organization
Executive Branch
Zambia is separated into the following nine prov-
inces:
• Central
• Copperbelt
• Eastern
• Luapulu
• Lusaka
• Northern
• Northwestern
• Southern
• Muchinga
• Western
The President serves as both the Head of State
and Government, and he or she appoints the min-
isters that govern each province. The President is
also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces,
which are made up of the Zambia Army, the Zambia
Air force (ZAF), the Zambia National Service (ZNS),
the Zambia Police Services (ZP), and the Zambia
Prisons. He or she appoints cabinet ministers from
members of the National Assembly.
Legislative Branch
Zambia has a unicameral legislature. All legislative
powers lie in the 158-member National Assembly.
The president elects 8 of the members, and the re-
maining 150 are elected by the constituents.
The Judicial system
The country's judicial system is based on English
common law and customary law. Common law is ad-
ministered by several high courts, which have the au-
thority to hear criminal and civil cases as well as ap-
peals from lower courts. Resident magistrate courts
are also established at various centers throughout
the country, and trials are open to the public.
General Information
