The ZRP was formed in February 2001 as a merger of the Zambia Alliance for Progress (ZAP), the Republican Party and the National Republican Party; however, the ZAP later withdrew from the merger.
In the National Assembly elections the party received 6% of the vote, winning a single seat.
In June 2006 a faction of the party left to join the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy.
[1] In the build-up to the September 2006 general elections the ZRP joined the National Democratic Focus alliance.
The NDF did not nominate a presidential candidate, but won a single seat in the National Assembly elections, taken by Mwila.