THE Zambia National Women’s Lobby (ZNWL) Acting Executive Director, Golden Nachibinga, said the organisation is training 500 women aspiring to contest the 2026 general elections.

He has however expressed concern that political parties may use reserved seats as an excuse to avoid adopting women in constituencies.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS, Mr Nachibinga says ZNWL has introduced contestants for Member of Parliament, mayor, council chairperson, and councillor positions across all provinces.

“Out of the 500 women in our database, about 50 are targeting parliamentary seats while the majority are going for local government positions,” he said.

He noted that despite the 2025 Constitution introducing 20 proportional representation seats reserved for women, many aspirants still face barriers to contesting in constituencies.

“Our fear is that political parties will tell women to wait for PR seats instead of supporting them to win constituency elections,” she said.