{"id":56171,"date":"2026-04-15T21:52:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T21:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=56171"},"modified":"2026-04-15T21:52:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T21:52:03","slug":"hichilema-declared-upnd-president-and-2026-general-elections-candidate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/04\/15\/hichilema-declared-upnd-president-and-2026-general-elections-candidate\/","title":{"rendered":"Hichilema Declared UPND President And 2026 General Elections Candidate \u2013 Eduzim News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"post_data\">\n<p>Hichilema Declared UPND President And 2026 General Elections Candidate<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>By A Correspondent | ZimEye | LUSAKA \u2014 President Hakainde Hichilema has been officially declared the United Party for National Development (UPND) president and sole candidate for the 2026 general elections following an uncontested internal nomination process.<\/p>\n<p>According to an official declaration issued by the party\u2019s General Assembly and endorsed by the Returning Officer Isaac Mwanza, the nomination process closed on 12 April 2026 with only one valid candidate. The document confirms that no other contender filed nomination papers for the party\u2019s top position.<\/p>\n<p>The certification states that the process was conducted in line with the UPND constitution and electoral guidelines, effectively rendering Hichilema elected unopposed under the party\u2019s rules governing uncontested elections.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"395\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hichilema-Declared-UPND-President-And-2026-General-Elections-Candidate-%E2%80%93.jpeg?resize=640%2C395&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-849434\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hichilema-Declared-UPND-President-And-2026-General-Elections-Candidate-\u2013.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.zimeye.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0679-300x185.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.zimeye.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0679-768x474.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.zimeye.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0679.jpeg 1252w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Hichilema casting his ballot earlier today<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A stamped endorsement dated 15 April 2026 formalises the outcome, declaring Hichilema as the duly elected party president and, by extension, the UPND\u2019s candidate for Zambia\u2019s upcoming 2026 general elections.<\/p>\n<p>The uncontested endorsement consolidates Hichilema\u2019s grip on the ruling party, eliminating internal competition ahead of what is expected to be a high-stakes national election. It also signals a unified front within UPND, positioning the incumbent leader to seek another term without internal dissent.<\/p>\n<p>The development now shifts focus to the national political battlefield, where opposition parties are yet to finalise their candidates in what is shaping up to be a decisive electoral contest for Zambia\u2019s future direction.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<span id=\"wordads-inline-marker\" style=\"display: none;\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><!-- #comments --><\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Hichilema #Declared #UPND #President #General #Elections #Candidate #ZimEye<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hichilema Declared UPND President And 2026 General Elections Candidate By A Correspondent | ZimEye | LUSAKA \u2014 President Hakainde Hichilema&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,11],"tags":[4895,3981,6694,1138,1671,10461,202,313,10462],"class_list":["post-56171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi","category-world","tag-candidate","tag-declared","tag-eduzim","tag-elections","tag-general","tag-hichilema","tag-news","tag-president","tag-upnd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56173,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56171\/revisions\/56173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}