IV. POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT Bilateral Relationship with United States Since the MMD came into Government in November 1991 the bilateral relationship between Zambia and the United States has been very warm and cordial. U.S. government officials and U.S. business representatives have enjoyed excellent access to Zambian officials and policymakers. Zambia is receiving increasing levels of U.S. bilateral aid. USAID has projects in road rehabilitation, privatization, population control, agricultural marketing support, democracy and governance, AIDS/HIV prevention and education, and mother and child health care. Military cooperation in training is a new dimension of the bilateral relationship. Political Issues affecting the Business Climate Zambia has a history of political stability which has continued as the country has become a multiparty democracy. The current government espouses policies of free market orientation, and plans to privatize parastatals and foster the private sector. However, support for these policies is wide but not particularly deep or well informed. The political momentum behind reforms is in danger of slowing as the difficulties of economic transition occur. Many planned reforms still need to occur to improve the business climate, including land reform, wide scale privatization, new business laws, and civil service and police reform. The Political System Until 1991, Zambia was constitutionally a one party state ruled by the United Independence Party (UNIP). In 1991 a movement formed to push for an end to the one-party state and to move to a multiparty system. This was achieved in mid-1991 and elections were called for October 31, 1991. The political system is a hybrid of the British and American systems. The one house parliament has 150 seats. The head of government is an independently elected president who must draw his cabinet from parliament members. Elections for both the president and parliament occur simultaneously every five years. The president is limited to two five year terms. The Movement for Multiparty Democracy became the de facto opposition party and chose union activist Frederick Chiluba as their leader. The MMD campaigned on a platform of democracy, human rights, and free market economics. Chiluba a landslide victory and his party won all the parliamentary seats except for 25 Eastern province seats retained by UNIP. The loss put UNIP into disarray from which it has yet to recover, although the party has dropped its endorsement of socialism for a "social market" orientation they define as capitalism with a social conscious. In mid-1993 a number of prominent members of MMD including five former ministers resigned from MMD and their seats in parliament to form the National Party. The National Party has not yet articulated a platform. Members say they support the MMD platform, but that MMD has been hijacked by former UNIP members and backward thinkers who are not implementing the changes they claim to support. The next elections are scheduled for late 1996. At this point MMD remains by far the strongest party, with both UNIP and the National Party performing poorly in by-elections. However, that could change in the run up to elections if voter dissatisfaction grows.