Zambia - 2001 Election
Zambia is a republic governed by a president and a unicameral national assembly. After 2 decades of one-party rule, free and fair multiparty elections in November 1991 resulted in the victory of the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) and the election of President Frederick J.T. Chiluba, a former trade unionist. In 1996 elections, President Chiluba was reelected.
The Government's human rights record remained generally poor; however, there were some improvements in a few areas. Citizens' right to change their government was respected in presidential, parliamentary, and local government elections; however, there were credible allegations of election irregularities. Police officers reportedly committed several extrajudicial killings and frequently beat and otherwise abused criminal suspects and detainees. Police officers who commit such abuses often do so with impunity; however, some officers remained in detention pending trial. The lack of professionalism, investigatory skill, and discipline in the police force remained serious problems. Prison conditions were harsh and life threatening. The Government's commission of inquiry released its report into the alleged torture during detention of suspects in a 1997 coup attempt; however, the Government declined to take action against those accused in the report. Arbitrary arrests, prolonged detention, and long delays in trials remained problems.
The courts exhibited increased independence by issuing a number of rulings against the Government or the MMD. Police infringed on citizens' privacy rights. Although there were indications of some relaxation, the Government generally continued to restrict press freedom. The Government restricted freedom of assembly. Human rights and civic organizations and political parties continued to complain of government harassment; however, these groups were instrumental in halting attempts by supporters of the President to amend the Constitution to allow him to seek a third term. Violence against women remained widespread. Women continued to experience discrimination in both law and fact, including the denial of widows' inheritance rights. Child abuse was a problem. Discrimination against persons with disabilities was a problem. Child labor was a problem in rural subsistence occupations and some urban occupations. There were reports of trafficking in persons.
Early in 2001, supporters of President Chiluba mounted a campaign to amend the constitution to enable Chiluba to seek a third term of office. Civil society, opposition parties, and many members of the ruling party exerted sufficient pressure on Chiluba to force him to back away from any attempt at a third term.
Under the Constitution, the President exercises broad authority. The National Assembly ratifies major appointments and theoretically has broad powers, but the overwhelming majority held by the MMD until the December 27 election effectively precluded independent action by the legislature and limited its ability to provide a check on executive authority. Between January and May, M.P.'s, including high ranking members of the MMD, were instrumental in defeating attempts by supporters of President Chiluba to amend the Constitution to allow him to seek a third term of office. More than one-third of the M.P.'s signed a declaration opposing the third term, which prevented the President's supporters from gaining the two-thirds vote necessary to amend the Constitution.
Citizens, mobilized by civil society organizations, also mounted sufficient political pressure to compel the Government to abandon its efforts. M.P.'s also initiated impeachment proceedings against the President. This act was largely a symbolic gesture, as the President retained sufficient support to block a two-thirds impeachment vote. The MMD attempted to expel 22 of its M.P.'s who were leaders in the anti-third-term movement following the party's convention in the beginning of May. A judge granted an injunction barring the MMD from expelling the M.P.'s. The Speaker of the National Assembly subsequently came under pressure from the MMD to declare the seats of the 22 M.P.'s vacant. The Speaker deferred to the court injunction, enabling the 22 to retain their seats until they chose to leave on their own.
In May 2001 Vice-President Christon Tembo and more than 80 senior members of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) left the party to form the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD). Since, under the 1996 constitution, Frederick Chiluba could not stand for a third term of office and he was unable to muster enough support for constitutional change, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa was chosen in August as MMD’s candidate for the 2001 presidential election, the third since the restoration of multiparty politics in July 1990.
Presidential, parliamentary, and local government elections were held on December 27, 2001. Eleven parties contested the elections. The elections encountered numerous administrative problems. Opposition parties alleged that serious irregularities occurred. In a very close contest and with only 29% of the votes Mwanawasa won the December 2001 presidential election, Anderson Mazoka of the United Party for National Development (UPND) came second with 27%, Tembo (FDD) secured 13%, Tilyeni Kaunda (United National Independence Party – UNIP) 10% and Ben Mwila (Republican Party) 5%. In the simultaneous general election the MMD won 69 seats, the UPND 49, UNIP 13 and the FDD 12, but, even with its eight nominated members, the MMD was short of an absolute majority.
The MMD's use of government resources, including the state-owned media, raised questions over the fairness of the elections. The voting and counting processes generally were transparent, and there were no reports of violence or overt intimidation during the elections. Although noting general transparency during the voting, domestic and international observer groups cited irregularities in the registration process and problems in the tabulation of the elections. Opposition parties further alleged that significant rigging took place during the elections; however, such allegations were not proven by year's end. Three opposition parties reportedly planned to challenge the elections in court; however, no challenge was initiated by year's end.
Although noting general transparency during the voting, domestic and international observer groups cited irregularities in the registration process and problems in the tabulation of the elections. There were no reports of violence or overt intimidation during the elections. The MMD's use of government resources during campaigns, including the state-owned media, called into question the fairness of the elections. Opposition parties further alleged that significant rigging took place during the elections; however, such allegations were not proven by year's end. Three opposition parties reportedly planned to challenge the elections in court; however, no challenge was initiated by year's end.
A series of parliamentary by-elections held during 2001 generally were representative of the will of the electorate; however, there were some irregularities such as the use of government transport by MMD officials during campaigns and the police denial of permits for the opposition to hold public rallies. Opposition parties won three of these by-elections; however, these victories were not enough to challenge MMD dominance. In September during the Kabwata by-election, police enforced the rules that require political campaigning to occur a fixed distance beyond a polling station, requiring both the opposition Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) and MMD officials to remove their supporters from the polling station. Police detained some unruly MMD supporters; the Government reportedly transferred some of the police officers to remote duty stations following the detentions.
MMD presidential candidate Levy Mwanawasa, having garnered a plurality of the vote (29%), was sworn into office on January 2, 2002. Opposition parties won a majority of parliamentary seats in the December 2001 election, but subsequent by-elections gave the ruling MMD a majority in parliament.
During his first months in office, President Mwanawasa encouraged the Zambian Anticorruption Commission to aggressively pursue its mandate. In July 2002, in a speech before the Zambian National Assembly, President Mwanawasa provided details on a number of corruption allegations targeting former President Chiluba, and called for parliament to consider lifting Chiluba's immunity from prosecution. The opposition was fragmented and during 2003 Mwanawasa encouraged further fragmentation by bringing several individual opposition members into positions in his government.
The period of the Mwanawasa presidency was critical to the path of future reforms. The president faced difficult trade-offs between consolidating his political position, either as the basis for sustaining a reform effort, or should he chose to do so, as a base from which to contest future elections. He is in a challenging position, since if he wishes to gain popular appeal he must deliver on reform promises, but even if he does deliver, he remains associated with the party most obviously and directly associated with the failures of the previous regime. In order to deliver on reform, he will need to attack elements of his own political base and, more importantly, informal systems that brought him to power. One critical test of government resolve to move forward seriously will come when anti-corruption investigators are allowed to seriously focus on the MMD.
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