We must verify before posting here.
UPND was founded in 1998 by Anderson Mazoka as a serious opposition alternative with concrete economic and social proposals.
After Mazoka’s passing in 2006, Hakainde Hichilema took leadership and contested every presidential election: 2006, 2008 (by-election), 2011, 2015 (by-election) and 2016, steadily building the party over 15 years.
When Michael Sata’s PF won in 2011, the former ruling MMD fragmented.
Many of its members joined PF, but several influential figures moved to UPND.
This helped position UPND as the strongest and most organised opposition by the time of the 2021 election.
The 2021 victory was not mainly a “sympathy vote.”
It resulted from:
1. Deep public frustration with the PF government’s economic mismanagement (record debt, default, inflation, unemployment, and rising cost of living).
2. Governance issues, including corruption allegations and democratic backsliding.
3. UPND’s consistent messaging on economic competence, rule of law, and anti-corruption.
4. Strong voter mobilisation, especially among youth, with 70% turnout and a clear 59% landslide for Hichilema.
Voters chose change after years of accumulated problems under the incumbent, a common pattern in African democracies, not sympathy for an event from 15 years earlier.
Constructive criticism of the current government is healthy, but let’s base the discussion on accurate history rather than dismissing the 2021 mandate as mere sympathy.
One of the reasons the Zambian people gave the UPND a chance was a vote of sympathy, and that sentiment helped usher them into power, even though many did not necessarily see them as the better option at the time.With that in mind, one would not be