The Zoram People’s Movement’s (ZPM) slogan, “Vote for a change, give this new party a chance”, has struck a chord with the people of Mizoram. The ZPM has secured 27 seats in the 40-member state assembly, pushing the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) to the second spot. Since 1987, power has changed hands in the state between the Congress and the MNF every two terms.
In 2018, the ZPM — the party was still not registered with the EC and its candidates fought as independents — displaced the Congress as Mizoram’s principal Opposition party, winning eight seats.
In April this year, the new party showed its performance was no flash in the pan by sweeping the polls to Mizoram’s second-largest municipality, Lunglei. It won all seven seats in the by-elections to the Zemabawk local council the same month, a victory the party claimed was symbolic because the area comes under outgoing Chief Minister Zoramthanga’s Aizawl East I constituency. The ZPM victory in the assembly elections shows that its message resonates across the state, not just in urban areas.
In the run-up to the elections, Zoramthanga tried to present himself as a leader of the state’s Zo people who share ties with communities in neighbouring Manipur and across the border in Myanmar. He refused to comply with the Centre’s directive to collect biometric data of Myanmarese refugees and advocated the cause of the Kuki-Zo people in ethnic-strife-torn Manipur. In its campaigns, the MNF leaned heavily on its claims of being a champion of Zo identity. The ZPM’s call for change, in contrast, was powered by its focus on governance issues.
In an interview with this newspaper, the party’s CM face, Lalduhoma, underlined that the ZPM would bring in “systemic change” through “administrative, economic and land reforms”. It has promised MSPs for ginger, turmeric, chilli and broom grass. ZPM leaders made corruption a major poll issue and linked it with the state’s financial stress which has led to frequent delays in disbursal of salaries and retirement benefits to government officials in the past five years. The party also made an early start to the electioneering process by announcing the names of 39 of the 40 candidates — more than half of them below the age of 50 — in July.
The new government will have its task cut out. Mizoram’s unemployment rate is more than the national average, drug addiction is a major problem among the youth and ethnic issues from across the state’s borders continue to pose challenges. The ZPM will be watched on how it delivers on its promise of bringing about systemic change.
