United People's Party (Zimbabwe)

The United People's Party (UPP) was a political party in Zimbabwe. It was formed in 2006 by the former ZANU-PF provincial chairman of Masvingo and ZANU-PF member of the Central Committee, Dr. Daniel Shumba.^[1] Party candidates ran for the first time in the by-elections of Chiredzi South and Zaka East in February and March 2007, respectively. In the 2008 parliamentary election, the party put forward seventy-nine candidates for the House of Assembly and twenty-seven for the Senate in eight of Zimbabwe's ten provinces.

Dr Daniel Shumba (who self funded the Party), and was its initial party leader, was denied a chance to run in the 2008 Zimbabwean presidential election for allegedly arriving late to the nomination court. He later won his court application, but the judgement was issued well after the run-off elections. Other political parties feared that had the UPP got funding, it would have redefined Zimbabwe's political landscape. The UPP like the MDC was denied access to the media.^[2]

Although the UPP supported a true government of national unity (GNU), the power-sharing after the 2008 elections did not include them.^[3] In October 2009, Dr Shumba resigned from politics to continue his role as a business leader in Zimbabwe. "Our revolution is not just about politics, but about economic empowerment also", said Dr Shumba. The ZANU-PF government suspended his TeleAccess telecommunication licence as punishment for Dr Daniel Shumba's democratic agenda, while he was Chairman in ZANU-PF's Masvingo province. The matter is before the courts.

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