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The Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) also known as New Hope MMD is a
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
in
Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...
. Originally formed to oust the previous government, MMD controlled an absolute majority in parliament between 1991 and 2001, when its past leader, Frederick Chiluba was President of Zambia. Its election into power in 1991 ended the 27-year rule of President
Kenneth Kaunda Kenneth David Kaunda (28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021), also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first President of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from British rule. Diss ...
and his
United National Independence Party The United National Independence Party (UNIP) is a political party in Zambia. It governed the country from 1964 to 1991 under the socialist presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, and was the sole legal party in the country between 1973 and 1990. On 4 ...
(UNIP). It remained the dominant party within Zambian politics until the general elections of September 2011.


History


Formation and government

Growing opposition to UNIP's monopoly on power, due in part to economic problems and corruption, led to the formation of the MMD in July 1990, led by Frederick Chiluba, the head of the country's trade unions. During that same year, pushed by internal and international pressure, Kaunda agreed to a referendum on the
one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other partie ...
, but in the face of continued opposition, dropped the referendum and signed a
constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, ...
that relinquished UNIP's guaranteed right to rule. Multi-party general elections were held on 31 October 1991, and saw the MMD sweep to power in a massive landslide. Chiluba was elected president with 76% of the vote to Kaunda's 24%, whilst the MMD won 125 of the 150 elected seats in the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...
. However, by the end of Chiluba's first five-year term as president, the MMD's commitment to political reform had faded in the face of re-election demands and several prominent members left to establish other parties. Relying on the MMD's overwhelming majority in parliament, President Chiluba in May 1996 pushed through constitutional amendments that effectively eliminated former President Kaunda and other prominent opposition leaders from the 1996 general elections. As a result, UNIP boycotted the elections, allowing Chiluba to be easily re-elected with 73% of the vote, whilst the MMD won 131 of the 150 seats in the National Assembly. Afterward, however, several opposition parties and non-governmental organisations declared the elections neither free nor fair. Early in 2001, supporters of President Chiluba mounted a campaign to amend the constitution to enable Chiluba to seek a third term of office; the campaign led to further breakaways from the MMD, including the Forum for Democracy and Development and the Heritage Party. Eventually civil society, opposition parties, and other MMD members exerted sufficient pressure on Chiluba to force him to back away from any attempt at a third term. Levy Mwanawasa was selected as the MMD presidential candidate for the 2001 elections, winning with just 28% of the vote. Although the MMD remained the largest party in the National Assembly, it lost its majority after being reduced to 69 seats. Three parties submitted petitions to the High Court, challenging the election results. The petition remained under consideration by the courts in February 2003 when it was ruled that while there had been irregularities these had not been large enough to affect the outcome; thus the result was upheld. Opposition parties won a majority of parliamentary seats in the December, 2001 election, but subsequent by-elections and liberal use of government patronage to secure the support of opposition MPs gave the ruling MMD a slim majority in Parliament. Mwanawasa was re-elected in the 2006 general elections with 43% of the vote, with the MMD winning 72 seats in the National Assembly. Following the sudden death of Mwanawasa in August 2008, a presidential by-election was held.
Rupiah Banda Rupiah Bwezani Banda (19 February 1937 – 11 March 2022) was a Zambian politician who served as the fourth president of Zambia from 2008 to 2011, taking over from Levy Mwanawasa, who died as the sitting president. Banda was an active participant ...
was chosen as the MMD candidate, and was elected with 40% of the national vote, narrowly defeating Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front (PF) by a margin of around 2%.


Opposition

However, the 2011 general elections saw Sata defeat Banda by a margin of 42%–35%, whilst the MMD won only 55 seats in the National Assembly to the PF's 60. The following year Nevers Mumba was elected as MMD president, defeating rival Felix Mutati and several other candidates.


2015 presidential by-elections

In the 2015 presidential by-election Former Party President Mr. Rupiah Banda returned from political retirement and claimed that he would be the candidate of the Party in that by election, whilst the Party through the National Executive Committee (NEC) backed its Party President Dr. Mumba. The Issue went to the Supreme Court and the Court ruled that Dr. Mumba as Party President had the right to run for President on the Party ticket. The judgement was passed two weeks before the election date and partially due to that the MMD with Dr. Mumba as its candidate received just about 0.9%.


2016 illegal MMD convention

In May 2016, a group of former and expelled
MMD members MMD may refer to: Science and technology * Molar mass distribution, in a polymer * MultiMarkdown, a markup language * Multiple dispatch, a feature of some programming languages * MMD, a loudspeaker parameter of the Thiele/Small model equivalent * ...
elected former Lunte MP Felix Mutati as party president at a convention at the
Mulungushi Rock of Authority Mulungushi Rock of Authority, also known as Mulungushi Rock, is a kopje (isolated rock hill) in the Central Province of Zambia associated with major political gatherings and speeches. Situated near the Mulungushi River north of Kabwe, it was fi ...
in
Kabwe Kabwe is the capital of the Zambian Central Province and the Kabwe District, with a population estimated at 202,914 at the 2010 census. Named Broken Hill until 1966, it was founded when lead and zinc deposits were discovered in 1902. Kabwe also ...
, whilst the Party continued supporting Nevers Mumba.


2019 Judge Newa Judgement

On the 9th of November 2019, High Court Judge Sharon Newa sitting in Lusaka ruled that the Convention that elected Felix Mutati as Party President was illegal and all decisions made between then and that date was declared null and vold. It further ruled that Dr. Nevers Mumba was the MMD President and that Felix Mutati and Raphael Nakachinda remained expelled members of the MMD.


Electoral history


Presidential elections


National Assembly elections


References

{{Authority control 1990 establishments in Zambia Political parties established in 1990 Political parties in Zambia Progressive parties Social democratic parties in Zambia Neoliberal parties