Kaunda's political party--the United National Independence Party (UNIP)--was founded in 1959 and was in power under Kaunda's leadership from 1964 to 1991. Before 1972, Zambia had three significant political parties, but only UNIP had a nationwide following.

In December 1972, Zambian law established a one-party state, and all other political parties were banned; this was later enshrined in the 1973 constitution. Kaunda, the sole candidate, was elected President in the 1973 elections. Elections also were held for the National Assembly. Only UNIP members were permitted to run, but these seats were sharply contested. President Kaunda's mandate was renewed in December 1978, October 1983, and October 1988 in a "yes" or "no" vote on his candidacy.

Growing opposition to UNIP's monopoly on power led to the rise in 1990 of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD). The MMD assembled an increasingly impressive group of important Zambians, including prominent UNIP defectors and labor leaders. Zambia's first multi-party elections for parliament and the presidency since the 1960s were held on October 31, 1991. MMD candidate Frederick Chiluba resoundingly carried the presidential election over Kenneth Kaunda with 81% of the vote. To add to the MMD landslide, in the parliamentary elections the MMD won 125 of the 150 elected seats and UNIP the remaining 25.

By the end of Chiluba's first term as President (1996), the MMD's commitment to political reform had faded in the face of re-election demands. A number of prominent supporters founded opposing parties. Relying on the MMD's overwhelming majority in parliament, President Chiluba in May 1996 pushed through constitutional amendments that eliminated former President Kaunda and other prominent opposition leaders from the 1996 presidential elections. In the presidential and parliamentary elections held in November 1996, Chiluba was re-elected, and the MMD won 131 of the 150 seats in the National Assembly. Kaunda's UNIP party boycotted the parliamentary polls to protest the exclusion of its leader from the presidential race, alleging in addition that the outcome of the election had been predetermined due to a faulty voter registration exercise. As President Chiluba began his second term in 1997, the opposition and civil society challenged the results of the election amid international efforts to encourage the MMD and the opposition to resolve their differences through dialogue.

Early in 2001, supporters of President Chiluba mounted a campaign to amend the constitution to enable Chiluba to seek a third term of office. Civil society, opposition parties, and many members of the ruling party exerted sufficient pressure on Chiluba to force him to back away from any attempt at a third term.

Presidential, parliamentary, and local government elections were held on December 27, 2001. Eleven parties contested the elections. The elections encountered numerous administrative problems. Opposition parties alleged that serious irregularities occurred. Nevertheless, MMD presidential candidate Levy Mwanawasa, having garnered a plurality of the vote (29%), was declared the victor by a narrow margin, and he was sworn into office on January 2, 2002. Opposition parties won a majority of parliamentary seats in the December 2001 election, but subsequent by-elections gave the ruling MMD a majority in parliament.

During his first months in office, President Mwanawasa encouraged the Zambian Anticorruption Commission to aggressively pursue its mandate. In July 2002, in a speech before the Zambian National Assembly, President Mwanawasa provided details on a number of corruption allegations targeting former President Chiluba, and called for parliament to consider lifting Chiluba's immunity from prosecution. Mwanawasa appointed a special Task Force to investigate and prosecute corrupt officials. Zambian courts are now hearing cases involving corruption charges against Chiluba and numerous officials from his regime.

On May 4, 2007, a British court found former President Frederick Chiluba and several others liable in a civil suit for misappropriating $41 million of public resources. The criminal case, which was frequently in recess due to Chiluba's poor health, is expected to continue through 2008. The government's Task Force on Corruption has also successfully prosecuted three other cases of abuse of office and high-level corruption.

During his first term in office, President Mwanawasa appointed an Electoral Reform Technical Committee (ERTC) and a Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) to make recommendations for reforms. The ERTC submitted its final report to the President in August 2005. Voter registration began on October 31, 2005 and continued through December 31, 2005. The CRC presented its final report and a draft constitution in December 2005. In February 2006 the government agreed to allow the formation of a Constituent Assembly to consider and adopt the draft constitution, subject to certain conditions. In August 2007, the Zambian parliament passed a government-sponsored law creating a National Constitutional Conference (NCC) charged with drafting a new constitution. The NCC, which is comprised of over 500 members drawn from parliament, political parties, civil society, and government, began meeting in late December 2007. Some members of civil society have refused to participate in the NCC, saying that its membership is too heavily stacked in the government's favor and pushing instead for the promised Constituent Assembly.

The Government of Zambia introduced very limited legislative changes to electoral procedures in mid-2006, including an electoral code of conduct and limits on politically-motivated donations and handouts. On July 25, 2006, President Mwanawasa dissolved parliament and his cabinet and set September 28, 2006 as the date for presidential, parliamentary, and local government elections. Mwanawasa won the September 2006 election with 1,177,846 votes, while the Patriotic Front's Michael Sata came in second with 804,748 votes. The head of a three-party alliance, Hakainde Hichilema, placed third. In parliamentary elections, the ruling MMD party won a slim majority of seats. International observers commended the overall conduct of the elections, but noted some anomalies.

President Mwanawasa died August 19, 2008 in a Paris hospital from complications of a stroke suffered June 29 while he was attending the African Union (AU) Summit in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt. In accordance with the constitution, Vice President Rupiah Banda assumed presidential powers but must hold elections within 90 days of Mwanawasa's death.