From the standpoint of recent and prospective political reform, the mo
st promising cluster of countries in Africa is in the central and sout
hern region. Zambia has been in the forefront. Zambia's reintroduction
of multi-party politics, following the end of the Second Republic and
its one-party state, brought about a new ruling party and a new presi
dent. The outlook for consolidating a multi-party system, and developi
ng the political parties further, can be assessed by way of comparison
with the country's first experience of political pluralism, and of th
e reasons why that came to an end, in December 1972. Account should al
so be taken of the legacy of the Second Republic. The future of party
politics in Zambia's Third Republic is uncertain, given the factionali
sm shown by all three main parties, the failure of the ruling party to
maintain its early impetus and the weak opposition displayed by its r
ivals.