{"id":82291,"date":"2026-04-10T01:11:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T01:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/unip-backs-hichilema-exiting-presidential-race"},"modified":"2026-04-10T01:16:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T01:16:46","slug":"unip-backs-hichilema-exiting-presidential-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/unip-backs-hichilema-exiting-presidential-race","title":{"rendered":"UNIP Backs Hichilema Exiting Presidential Race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>Zambia\u2019s first ruling party, the United National Independence Party (UNIP), has announced its support for Hakainde Hichilema in the upcoming August general elections.<\/p>\n<p>Former UNIP president Henry Muyoba confirmed that the party will not field a presidential candidate, choosing instead to back the United Party for National Development (UPND) at the top level while contesting in other electoral categories.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Diamond News, Muyoba said the decision aligns with UNIP\u2019s mandate and reflects policy similarities between the UPND and the principles established by Kenneth Kaunda during Zambia\u2019s independence era.<\/p>\n<p>He added that supporting continuity helps preserve people-centered policies such as free education and school meal programs\u2014initiatives he noted have positively impacted citizens, including President Hichilema during his early years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Zambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. Zambia\u2019s first ruling party, the United National Independence Party (UNIP), has announced its support for Hakainde Hichilema in the upcoming August general elections. Former UNIP president Henry Muyoba confirmed that the party will not field a presidential candidate, choosing instead to back the United Party for National Development (UPND) at the top [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":82289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-82291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UNIP Backs Hichilema Exiting Presidential Race - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Zambia\u2019s first ruling party, the United National Independence Party (UNIP), has announced its support for Hakainde Hichi ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/unip-backs-hichilema-exiting-presidential-race\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UNIP Backs Hichilema Exiting Presidential Race\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zambia\u2019s first ruling party, the United National Independence Party (UNIP), has announced its support for Hakainde Hichi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/unip-backs-hichilema-exiting-presidential-race\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-10T01:11:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-10T01:16:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1775783725.829434.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"706\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/unip-backs-hichilema-exiting-presidential-race#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/unip-backs-hichilema-exiting-presidential-race\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"UNIP Backs Hichilema Exiting Presidential Race\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-10T01:11:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-10T01:16:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/unip-backs-hichilema-exiting-presidential-race\"},\"wordCount\":141,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/unip-backs-hichilema-exiting-presidential-race#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1775783725.829434.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/unip-backs-hichilema-exiting-presidential-race#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/unip-backs-hichilema-exiting-presidential-race\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/unip-backs-hichilema-exiting-presidential-race\",\"name\":\"UNIP Backs Hichilema Exiting Presidential Race - 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