IDCPPA Research Seminar - 20 February 2026 - Jeremy Seekings - Main Findings from Zambia Election Research Network (ZERN) Round 1 Survey

Friday, 20 February 2026, 14:00 – 15:30 SAST.

CSSR Seminar Room 4.29

Robert Leslie Social Sciences Building

University of Cape Town

If you wish to attend online, please request a video link by responding to this email.

Speaker

Prof Jeremy Seekings

Professor of Sociology – University of Cape Town

Main Findings from Zambia Election Research Network (ZERN) Round 1 Survey

Authors: Nicole Beardsworth, Mundia Kabinga, Jeremy Seekings & Michael Wahman

Abstract

In 2025, the Zambia Elections Research Network (ZERN) conducted the first round of a telephonic panel survey to assess public perceptions of the Zambian government's performance since 2021 and expectations of the elections due in August 2026. The survey asked questions about political parties and campaigns, the assessment of national conditions and government performance, institutional trust, and voting intentions. The survey found robust support for the incumbent president alongside widespread disquiet over the government's performance in some key areas and low support for incumbent MPs and councillors. A second wave of the panel will be fielded in the coming months.

Biography

Professor Jeremy Seekings is interested in a wide range of topics concerning politics and society, in the present and historically, in Southern Africa and some other parts of the world. His first work was on the struggle against apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s and the transition to democracy in the 1990s. In the 2000s and 2020s he has continued to work on South Africa, including on social stratification and inequalities (class, status, race, gender), the transformation of kinship and families, and the history and contemporary politics of poverty reduction and welfare-state-building. Over the past decade he has worked increasingly elsewhere in Southern Africa (and parts of East Africa), the Caribbean and (most recently) parts of the Mediterranean, focusing on (a) public policy with an emphasis on poverty reduction and social protection and (b) political parties, elections and voting. His most recent research has focused on Botswana, Zambia and Malta. He is the Acting Director of the Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa and the former Director of the Centre for Social Science Research (2012-2022). Currently, he is a Senior Research Officer at the Sustainable Societies Unit, part of the CSSR. He has a strong interest in the combination of quantitative and qualitative research.