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14 candidates are throwing their hats in the ring to become Zambia’s next president in the upcoming election.

Among them is main opposition challenger Brian Mundubile, seeking to defeat president Hakainde Hichilema. He says his party’s campaign has been hampered:

"To this end it’s a process. We’ve not been able to campaign freely, we were stopped permits, you know, landing rights and permits to fly, when our opponent president Hakainde Hichilema had three helicopters, he could fly and have six rallies a day, we were only allowed to do our campaigns by road, I have had no passport for the past four months, I have had no phones, my phones were confiscated with numbers and, you know, seized four months ago," Mundubile said.

A former lawyer, Mundubile emerged as the country’s main opposition leader after anti government parties came together to rally around him. He also alleges police interference during the campaign period.

"So the way we would want to look at this particular election, let’s not look at what will happen tomorrow, or what has happened between today and tomorrow okay, throughout the campaign period, we’ve been unable to campaign, I’m sure you’ve watched the pictures, you’ve seen the videos, we’ve had police interference at every stage, we’ve had violence from the UPND, and yet ECZ has not been able to act and suspend the campaigns of the UPND," Mundubile says.

Hichilema won the presidency in 2021 on his sixth attempt, ousting longtime rival Edgar Lungu with a landslide. He's widely expected to win a second term.