The National Assembly of Zambia, in collaboration with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) held a four day Post-Election Seminar for the 13th National Assembly of Zambia from Monday, 25th to 28th July, 2022. The purpose of the Seminar was to offer Members of Parliament (MPs), of the 13th National Assembly, an opportunity to learn more about parliamentary practice, procedure and etiquette, as practiced in the Zambian Parliament, and in jurisdictions that subscribe to the Westminster Parliamentary System. Topics that were deliberated upon during the Post-Election Seminar included: Women in Parliament, the Legislative Process, the development of the Commonwealth and the role of the CPA, as well as Social Economic Integration in the SADC Region. 

The Post-Election Seminar was held in line with the long standing tradition among Commonwealth Countries, of building capacity of MPs, especially those who are elected to Parliament for the first time. The Seminar is usually held immediately after a General Election. However, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Zambian Post Election Seminar could not be held immediately after the 12th August, 2021 General Elections. 

In addressing Honourable Members during the official opening ceremony, the Rt Hon Madam Nelly B K Mutti, MP, Speaker of the National Assembly of Zambia, implored all MPs to actively interact with the resource persons in order to acquaint themselves with parliamentary practice and procedure, as practiced in other Parliaments. Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of the CPA, Mr Stephen Twigg, who attended the Seminar virtually, thanked the National Assembly of Zambia for successfully conducting the Seminar and for being an active and engaged Member of the CPA both at regional and international levels. 

Resource persons for the Post-Election Seminar were drawn from the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) and Legislatures in the region. The resource persons included: Hon Nontembeko Nothemba Boyce, MPL, Speaker of the KwaZulu Natal Provincial Legislature; Hon C T Frolick, MP, Chairperson of Committees, Oversight & ICT, National Assembly of the Republic of South Africa; Hon Joyce Chitsulo, MP, Chairperson of the Public Appointments Committee, National Assembly of Malawi; and Advocate Tousy Namiseb, Secretary to the National Council, Namibia Parliament. Others were Dr Dick Sichembe, Auditor General of Zambia, Dr Ambrose Aheisibwe, Regional Director of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Centre for Africa and Mr Robert Sichinga, former Member of Parliament. The Seminar was also attended by officials from the CPA Headquarters, namely, Ms Lydia Buchanan, Mr James Pinnell and Mr Tom Davies, who facilitated the sessions.

The Seminar was officially closed on Thursday, 28th July, 2022 by the Rt Hon Madam Speaker who thanked the MPs, CPA officials, resource persons and facilitators for taking part and ensuring that the Post-Election Seminar was successfully held. The Rt Hon Madam Speaker further remarked that the Seminar provided the National Assembly of Zambia with an opportunity to reform and mainstream the lessons learnt. She urged the Members to apply the lessons learnt from the Seminar in their work.