Forum Party

The Forum Party of Zimbabwe (FPZ) was a conservative political party in Zimbabwe.[1]

The Forum party was formed in March 1993 and was led by a former Zimbabwean Chief Justice Enoch Dumbutshena.[2] It was formed by a merge between the Forum for Democratic Reform (Trust), which Dumbutshena had led, and the Open Forum.[3]

The party called for powers to be devolved to the provinces and government expenditure to be cut, for instance by cutting the number of cabinet ministers from 43 to 14. The party soon became the biggest of the opposition parties,[2] and analysts saw it as a serious threat to the dominance of the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front.[3]

However by the 1995 parliamentary elections the party was suffering from internal divisions,[4] with a breakaway group forming a rival Forum Party for Democracy.[3] The party stood only 28 candidates in the 1995 elections and failed to gain any seats, winning 5.9% of the vote.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Zimbabwe: parliamentary elections Parliament, 1995". Inter-Parliamentary Union. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
  2. 1 2 "Still thirsty for change". The Economist. 1993-08-14. p. 38.
  3. 1 2 3 Olukoshi, Adebayo O. (1998). The politics of opposition in contemporary Africa. Nordic Africa Institute. p. 103. ISBN 91-7106-419-2.
  4. ↑ "No competition". The Economist. 1995-03-11. p. 46.
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