Background
Hichilema was born in a village in Monze District in present day Zambia.
Hichilema was born in a village in Monze District in present day Zambia.
He received a scholarship to study at the University of Zambia and graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor in Economics and Business Administration. He thereafter pursued an Master of Business Administration in Finance and Business Strategy at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
Hichilema was a perennial presidential candidate, having contested four times in 2006, 2008, 2011 and most recently 2015 before winning the presidency in 2021. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of both Coopers and Lybrand Zambia (1994-1998) and Grant Thornton Zambia (1998-2006). Following the death of Anderson Mazoka in 2006, he was elected as the party"s new President.
He received the endorsement of former President Kenneth Kaunda.
The election was held on 28 September 2006 and Hichilema took third place with about 25% of the vote. Hichilema ran as the UPND candidate in the 2008 election, which was called following the death of President Levy Mwanawasa.
He came 3rd with 19.7% of the vote. However, indecision on the pact candidate, deep mistrust and accusations of tribalism from both sides resulted in the collapse of the pact in March 2011.
He was one of the two main candidates in the 2015 election, which he lost by a narrow margin of just 27,757 votes (166%) against the ruling party"s candidate.
Hichilema denounced the election as a sham and urged his supporters to remain calm.
Mr Hichilema's United Party for National Development (U.P.N.D) won the 2021 presidential poll by close to 3 million votes. He served as the leader of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), an alliance of three opposition political parties. In the 2006 election, Hichilema was the candidate of the UDA and ran against Levy Mwanawasa of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy and Patriotic Front candidate Michael Sata.
Hakainde Hichilema is married to Mutinta and they have three Children, Miyanda Chikonka and Habwela.
