The party was established by in May 1995 by former ministers Dean Mungomba and Derrick Chitala after they were sacked by President Frederick Chiluba.
In the parliamentary elections the party nominated 141 candidates,[3] receiving 14% of the vote but only winning two seats in the National Assembly.
In 1998 some members broke away to form the Zambia Democratic Party.
[4] In 1999 ZADECO joined the Zambia Alliance for Progress, which failed to win a seat in the 2001 general elections.
It was subsequently part of the National Democratic Focus for the 2006 general elections,[5] with the NDF winning a single seat.