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Zambia's Ruling Party Backs Third Term for Chiluba
Zambia's ruling party amended its rules Sunday, effectively clearing the way for President Fredrick Chiluba to run for a controversial third term in office.
At a party convention in Kabwe, about 90 miles north of the capital Luanda, the Movement for Multiparty Democracy agreed unanimously to allow its president to serve for an unlimited period, thus lifting a previous restriction of two five-year terms.
If Chiluba now decides to seek a third term as Zambia's president, the country's constitution which currently limits him to serving two terms would have to be changed by Parliament, which is filled overwhelmingly with his party's members.
The ruling party's national secretary, Michael Sata, made it clear that Chiluba was being backed for a third term.
"I'm sure 10 years is not long enough and I know it's painful for those who have started warming up (to become) president," he said.
A former trade unionist, Chiluba, 58, won Zambia's first democratic elections in 1991, ousting longtime ruler Kenneth Kaunda, who led the nation to independence from British colonial rule in 1964.
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