[1][2] However, after conservative elements gained control of the party, the liberal faction led by Garfield Todd broke away to re-establish the United Rhodesia Party.
[3] In the 1958 general election in Southern Rhodesia the UFP won 17 of the 30 seats, despite receiving fewer votes than the Dominion Party, whilst the URP failed to win a seat.
In the August 1961 elections in Nyasaland the Malawi Congress Party won 22 seats (including two upper roll seats) and the UFP five (all from the upper roll).
The next federal elections in March 1962 were boycotted by all other parties, allowing the UFP to win 54 of the 57 seats.
In the Northern Rhodesian general elections in September the UFP won the most seats, but the Northern Rhodesian African National Congress, which held the balance of power, went back on a secret pact its leader Harry Nkumbula had made with the UFP and allowed the United National Independence Party to form the government.