Editing Kenneth Kaunda (section)

==Fall from power==
Matters quickly came to a head in 1990. In July, amid three days of rioting in the capital, Kaunda announced a referendum on whether to legalise other parties would be held that October. However, he argued for maintaining UNIP's monopoly, claiming that a multiparty system would lead to chaos. The announcement almost came too late; hours later, [[Mwamba Luchembe|a disgruntled officer]] went on the radio to announce Kaunda had been overthrown. The [[1990 Zambian coup d'état attempt|coup attempt]] was broken three to four hours later, but it was clear Kaunda and the UNIP were reeling.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Perlez |first=Jane |date=1 July 1990 |title=Failed Zambia Coup Weakens Leader |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/01/world/failed-zambia-coup-weakens-leader.html |access-date=2 March 2017 |archive-date=17 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017173754/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/01/world/failed-zambia-coup-weakens-leader.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Kaunda tried to mollify the opposition by moving the referendum to August 1991; the opposition claimed the original date did not allow enough time for voter registration.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 July 1990 |title=Zambia's Leader Announces Plan to Free 1,000 Prisoners |work=[[The New York Times]] |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/26/world/zambia-s-leader-announces-plan-to-free-1000-prisoners.html |access-date=2 March 2017 |archive-date=2 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302195701/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/26/world/zambia-s-leader-announces-plan-to-free-1000-prisoners.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

While expressing willingness to have the Zambian people vote on a multiparty system, Kaunda maintained that only a one-party state could prevent tribalism and violence from engulfing the country. By September, however, opposition demands forced Kaunda to reverse course. He cancelled the referendum, and instead recommended constitutional amendments that would dismantle UNIP's monopoly on power. He also announced [[1991 Zambian general election|a snap general election]] for the following year, two years before it was due.<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 September 1990 |title=Zambia Leader Assents To Multiparty Vote |work=[[The New York Times]] |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/25/world/zambian-leader-assents-to-multiparty-vote.html |access-date=2 March 2017 |archive-date=27 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027130050/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/25/world/zambian-leader-assents-to-multiparty-vote.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He signed the necessary amendments into law in December.<ref>{{Cite news|agency=Associated Press|date=1990-12-18|title=After 17 Years, Zambia Allows Opposition|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/18/world/after-17-years-zambia-allows-opposition.html|access-date=2022-03-14|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=5 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180205184631/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/18/world/after-17-years-zambia-allows-opposition.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

At these elections, the [[Movement for Multiparty Democracy]] (MMD), helmed by trade union leader [[Frederick Chiluba]], swept UNIP from power in a landslide. In the presidential election, Kaunda was roundly defeated, taking only 24 per cent of the vote to Chiluba's 75 per cent. UNIP was cut down to only 25 seats in the [[National Assembly of Zambia|National Assembly]]. One of the issues in the campaign was a plan by Kaunda to turn over one-quarter of the nation's land to [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]], an Indian guru who promised that he would use it for a network of utopian agricultural enclaves that proponents said would create "Heaven on Earth".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Van Niererk |first=Phillip |date=3 December 1994 |title=A transcendent approach to peace Mozambique / Both the crime and accident rates are down and the rains have come. The President credits TM as the fount of all good things |page=A.21 |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto, Ont.}}</ref><ref>[http://minet.org/TM-EX/Fall-91 Meditation guru and Zambian strongman] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090519202133/http://minet.org/TM-EX/Fall-91 |date=19 May 2009 }} ''Philadelphia Inquirer'', 18 October 24 October 1991.</ref> Kaunda was forced in a television interview to deny practising [[Transcendental Meditation technique|Transcendental Meditation]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lyman |first=Rick |date=16 October 1991 |title=Heaven's Strange Bedfellows; Meditation Guru and Zambian Strongman |page=A.1 |work=Philadelphia Inquirer}}</ref> When Kaunda handed power to Chiluba on 2 November 1991, he became the second mainland African head of state to allow free multiparty elections and to relinquish power peacefully after he had lost. The first, [[Mathieu Kérékou]] of [[People's Republic of Benin|Benin]], had done so in March of that year.<ref name="thea_Obit">{{Cite web |title=Obituary: Zambia's Kenneth Kaunda helped liberate Southern African countries |last=Matiashe |first=Farai Shawn |work=The Africa Report.com |date=17 June 2021 |access-date=19 June 2021 |url=https://www.theafricareport.com/99206/obituary-zambias-kenneth-kaunda-helped-liberate-southern-african-countries/ |archive-date=19 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619190047/https://www.theafricareport.com/99206/obituary-zambias-kenneth-kaunda-helped-liberate-southern-african-countries/ |url-status=live }}</ref>