{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox political party |name = Forum Party |native_name = |logo = |leader = Enoch Dumbutshena |founded = 28 March 1993 |dissolved = |merged = Movement for Democratic Change |predecessor = Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe |headquarters = Harare |membership = |ideology = Conservatism |position = Centre-right |national = |colours = |seats1_title = |seats1 = |seats2_title = |seats2 = |symbol = |colorcode =Purple |country = Zimbabwe }} {{Politics of Zimbabwe}} The '''Forum Party of Zimbabwe''' (FPZ) was a centre-right conservative political party in Zimbabwe.<ref name=elections>{{cite web| url = http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/2361_95.htm | title = Zimbabwe: parliamentary elections Parliament, 1995 | accessdate = 2009-04-21 | work = Inter-Parliamentary Union}}</ref>
The Forum Party was formed on 28 March 1993 and was led by a former Zimbabwean Chief Justice Enoch Dumbutshena.<ref name=thirsty>{{cite news | title = Still thirsty for change | publisher = The Economist | page = 38 | date = 1993-08-14 }}</ref> It was formed by a merger of the Forum for Democratic Reform (Trust), which Dumbutshena had led, and the Open Forum. One of its other predecessors was the Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe which had been led by former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith. Smith had chaired a meeting in 1992 hoping to unite opposition groups of all races against Mugabe's government.<ref name=contemporary>{{cite book |title= The politics of opposition in contemporary Africa |last= Olukoshi |first= Adebayo O. |year= 1998 |publisher= Nordic Africa Institute |isbn= 91-7106-419-2 |page= 103 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aGZTMHix4RQC}}</ref>
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,<ref name=thirsty/> and analysts saw it as a serious threat to the dominance of the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front.<ref name=contemporary/>
However, by the 1995 parliamentary elections the party was suffering from internal divisions,<ref name=competition>{{cite news | title = No competition | publisher = The Economist | page = 46 | date = 1995-03-11 }}</ref> with a breakaway group forming a rival Forum Party for Democracy.<ref name=contemporary/> The party stood only 28 candidates in the 1995 elections and failed to gain any seats, winning 5.9% of the vote.<ref name=elections/>
The party merged into the Movement for Democratic Change in December 1999.<ref>{{Cite web|date=9 December 1999|title=Zimbabwe: Forum disbands, joins MDC|url=https://allafrica.com/stories/199912090182.html|access-date=12 November 2021|publisher=Financial Gazette (Harare)|via=AllAfrica}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Zimbabwean political parties}}
Category:1993 establishments in Zimbabwe Category:Conservative parties in Zimbabwe Category:Defunct political parties in Zimbabwe Category:Political parties established in 1993 Category:Political parties with year of disestablishment missing Category:Political parties disestablished in 1999