Abstract
From the standpoint of recent and prospective political reform, the most promising cluster of countries in Africa is in the central and southern region. Zambia has been in the forefront. Zambia's reintroduction of multi-party politics, following the end of the Second Republic and its one-party state, brought about a new ruling party and a new president. The outlook for consolidating a multi-party system, and developing the political parties further, can be assessed by way of comparison with the country's first experience of political pluralism, and of the reasons why that came to an end, in December 1972. Account should also be taken of the legacy of the Second Republic. The future of party politics in Zambia's Third Republic is uncertain, given the factionalism shown by all three main parties, the failure of the ruling party to maintain its early impetus and the weak opposition displayed by its rivals.
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