Traditionalism, democracy and Political Participation: The Case of Western Province, Zambia

Abstract

This paper discusses several issues in relation to 1996 Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Zambia. First, the extent to which the Lozi commonality still accorded loyalty to their traditional authority(the Litunga) and the question of whether or not they were going to be influenced to vote according to his will. Second, the issue of the relations that existed between the Lozi Royal Establishment and the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) Government, and its related subject-'the Barotseland Agreement.' Third, the issues of the people's perceptions of the elections, with reference to their being free and fair, the people's political party /party leader preferences, the people's rating of the ruling party's performance in terms of development and the unholding of human rights, etc. Last but not the least, the paper deals with the manner in which the election campaigns were conducted as well as the results of both the Presidential and the Parliamentary polls themselves.