Movement for Multi-Party Democracy
Movement for Multiparty Democracy (abbreviation MMD , German Movement for Multiparty Democracy ) is a social democratic political party in Zambia .
It was originally formed to replace the ruling UNIP from Kenneth Kaunda and, above all, from himself in power. With the election in Zambia in 1991 , the MMD replaced UNIP as the ruling party and Kenneth Kaunda as president. The MMD had an absolute majority in the National Assembly of Zambia from 1991 to 2011 and was the president of the country first with Frederick Chiluba and then with Levy Mwanawasa and from 2008 to 2011 with Rupiah Banda . The MMD was the dominant political force in Zambia until the 2011 parliamentary election .
Established in 1990
From 1990 onwards, the opposition to the UNIP's monopoly of power grew, which led to the founding of the MMD. Food shortages and the continually continuing economic decline of the country, but also pressure from international organizations such as the World Bank, demanded new political approaches. MMD began as a coalition with the aim of overtaking UNIP in power and was able to attract a remarkable number of important political figures, including defectors from UNIP and representatives of the trade unions.
The establishment of the MMD marks the transition of Zambia to the Third Republic . It is rooted in the mass democracy movement, but its core rests on a small elite from the business world, trade unions, legal associations and universities. This heterogeneity in turn makes the MMD susceptible to power struggles and splits to this day. In addition, although the MMD can appeal to a large majority in Zambia across religions and ethnic groups, it is rooted in the cities and has hardly any base in rural areas, even among ordinary people. Furthermore, it should not be overlooked that the international pressure for more democracy was a consequence of the end of the Cold War. Costly mismanagement could no longer be tolerated, and political influence had to be reorganized, which was particularly evident from the fact that development aid for Zambia skyrocketed between 1990 and 1992. New elites were called for.
In 1990, Kenneth Kaunda submitted to domestic and international pressure by calling a referendum on the one-party state. However, this calculation did not work out. The opposition persisted, forcing the referendum and a constitutional amendment to be canceled that made Zambia a multi-party state.
Zambia's first parliamentary and presidential elections since 1960 took place on October 31, 1991. The presidential candidate of the MMD, Frederick Chiluba , was able to outclass his opponent Kenneth Kaunda with 81 percent of the vote. This landslide continued with the elections to the National Assembly, in which the MMD won 125 of 150 seats and the UNIP 25.
The MMD under Chiluba (1991-2002)
Towards the end of Chiluba's first term as president in 1996, the MMD's efforts to achieve political reforms waned visibly. In view of the upcoming new elections, the centrifugal forces in the MMD gained strength and a number of well-known politicians left the MMD to found new parties.
With an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly, Chiluba pushed through an amendment to the constitution that excluded former President Kenneth Kaunda and other prominent opposition leaders from the 1996 presidential election. In the 1996 election in Zambia , Chiluba was re-elected as president and the MMD won 131 out of 150 seats in the National Assembly. The UNIP boycotted this election and criticized the fact that the election results had been manipulated in advance through dubious voter registration.
Despite the boycott of UNIP, the elections were quiet. Five presidential and 600 parliamentary candidates from eleven parties stood for election. After the elections, some opposition parties and non-governmental organizations criticized them as neither free nor fair. Chiluba took office in 1997, despite the opposition still rejecting the election results. But international pressure worked to resolve these problems through political dialogue.
In early 2001, supporters of Chiluba began a campaign that would allow him a third term. But enough resistance came from society, the opposition and even from the MMD to let Chiluba refrain from such plans.
The MMD under Mwanawasa (until 2008)
The 2001 election in Zambia brought Levy Mwanawasa from the MMD to the presidency with just 29.1 percent of the vote. Eleven parties competed. Administrative problems arose and the opposition pointed to numerous irregularities. Nevertheless, the MMD won 69 of the 150 seats available for election.
Three parties appealed against the election results to the Supreme Court, where the matter remained pending until February 2003. Above all, this meant that a whole series of new electoral laws were passed, which were supposed to fix known problems, including the first-ever biometric registration of voters.
In the 2006 election in Zambia , which SADC observers called fair, Hakainde Hichilema of the United Democratic Alliance lost to Levy Mwanawasa, but he appeared to be the next possible president of Zambia in 2011. Michael Sata was particularly successful in the urban area. Mwanawasa won his victory in rural areas, where his fight against corruption and for the country's economic consolidation received the greatest recognition. In 2001 he won 28 percent, this time he achieved 40 percent.
In the early presidential elections in Zambia in 2008, however, it was Rupiah Banda from the MMD who won the day with 40% of the vote. His term of office lasted until the next rotating election in 2011, when he lost his office to Sata.
Loss of importance in the 2011 and 2016 elections
In the 2011 parliamentary elections , the MMD received 55 seats and became the strongest opposition party; in 2016, the party fell back to three seats.