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| {{Infobox Political party
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| |name = Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD)
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| |leader = [[Nevers Mumba]]
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| |logo = [[File:Movement for Multi-Party Democracy.jpg|175px]]
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| |president =
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| |chairperson =
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| |spokesperson =
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| |leader1_name =
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| |leader2_name =
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| |leader3_name =
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| |dissolution =
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| |newspaper =
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| |youth_wing =
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| |membership_year=
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| |colorcode = #3BADF3
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| |ideology = [[Social democracy]]<br>[[Third Way]]<br>[[Progressivism]]
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| |position = [[Centre-left]]
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| |seats1_title = [[National Assembly (Zambia)|National Assembly]]
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| |seats1 = {{Composition bar|55|157|hex=#3BADF3}}
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| |seats2_title = [[Pan African Parliament]]
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| |seats2 = {{Composition bar|1|5|hex=#3BADF3}}
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| |country = Zambia
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| }}
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| The '''Movement for Multi-party Democracy''' (MMD) is a [[political party]] in [[Zambia]]. 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]] and his [[United National Independence Party]] (UNIP). It remained the dominant party within Zambian politics until the [[Zambian general election, 2011|general elections of September 2011]]. It is a centre-left political party.
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| ==History==
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| ===Formation and government===
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| 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.<ref>Martin Lindhardt (2014) ''Pentecostalism in Africa: Presence and Impact of Pneumatic Christianity in Postcolonial Societies'', BRILL, pp302–303</ref> During that same year, pushed by internal and international pressure, Kaunda agreed to a referendum on the [[one-party state]], but in the face of continued opposition, dropped the referendum and signed a [[constitutional amendment]] making Zambia a multi-party state.
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| Multi-party [[Zambian general election, 1991|general elections]] were held on 31 October 1991; 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 (Zambia)|National Assembly]]. 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.
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| Relying on the MMD's overwhelming majority in parliament, President Chiluba in May 1996 pushed through constitutional amendments that eliminated former President Kaunda and other prominent opposition leaders from the [[Zambian general election, 1996|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 organisation]]s declared the elections neither free nor fair.
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| 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 (Zambia)|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.
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| [[Levy Mwanawasa]] was selected as the MMD presidential candidate for the [[Zambian general election, 2001|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.
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| Mwanawasa was re-elected in the [[Zambian general election, 2006|2006 general elections]] with 43% of the vote, with the MMD winning 72 seats in the National Assembly.
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| Following the sudden death of Mwanawasa in August 2008, a [[Zambian presidential election, 2008|presidential by-election]] was held. [[Rupiah Banda]] was chosen as the MMD candidate, and was elected with 40% of the national vote, narrowly defeating [[Michael Sata]] of the [[Patriotic Front (Zambia)|Patriotic Front]] (PF) by a margin of around 2%.
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| ===Opposition===
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| However, the [[Zambian general election, 2011|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.
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| In the [[Zambian presidential election, 2015|2015 presidential by-election]] several MMD members supported [[United Party for National Development]] candidate [[Hakainde Hichilema]] or the PF's [[Edgar Lungu]].<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/01/25/the-ruling-party-candidate-wins-in-zambia-for-now/ The ruling party candidate wins in Zambia… for now.] The Washington Post, 25 January 2015</ref> Although Mumba opted to run, he received just 0.9% of the vote.
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| ==References==
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| {{reflist}}
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| ==External links==
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| *[http://www.mmdzambia.org/ Official website]
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| {{Zambian political parties}}
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| [[Category:Political parties in Zambia]]
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| [[Category:Political parties established in 1990]]
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| [[Category:1990 establishments in Zambia]]
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