INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE AND POPULATION

Basic Data:

• Surface area: 752.614 sq. km; 
• Capital: Lusaka; 
• Principal cities: Ndola, Kitwe, Livingstone; 
• Official name: Republic of Zambia; 
• Political regime: Multiparty – Presidential republic; 
• President: Michael Chilufya Sata; 
• Vice President: Guy Scott; 
• Foreign Affairs Ministry: Given Lubinda; 
• Last elections: 20 September 2011; 
• Main political parties: Patriotic Front (PF); Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD); United Party for National Development (UPND);United National Indipendent Party (UNIP); Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD). UPND, UNIP and FDD are now united into the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).     

Population and social indicators:

• Population: 12.500.000;
• Density: 15,28 abitanti per Kmq;
• Population growth (annual %): 1,6 (World Bank);
• School enrollment, primary (% gross): 79,8 (World Bank);  
• Prevalence of HIV, (% of population ages 15-49): 17,0 (World Bank);
• Language: English, official language;
• Religions: Christian, Muslim, Hindu, local animist religions;  
• Official currency: Zambian Kwacha;
• Ethnic minorities: 73 ethnical groups.

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS Zambia is a presidential Republic based on the 1996 Constitution (currently under review). Zambia became independent in 1964 after 80 years of British colonial rule. It was one of the first countries in the Region to embark on a democratisation process.
 
The multiparty system was abolished de jure in 1972, when President Kaunda’s UNIP party was declared the only legally recognised political party and its Statute incorporated in the Republic’s Constitution, but it was reintroduced in 1990 after a constitutional amendment. Since then, 10 new political parties have been created. The presidential elections of 1991 were won by Frederick Chiluba, leader of the new MMD party, who also won a second term in 1996.
 
In 2001 Chiluba appointed Patrick Levy Mwanawasa (vice president during his first mandate) as his successor. Mwanawasa was elected in 2001 and confirmed for a second mandate on the 28th September 2006, while the MMD party gained the parliamentary majority in both elections. In October 2008, following President Mwanawasa untimely death, new general elections conferred the Presidency upon Rupiah Banda, Mwanawasa's former vicepresident until completion of the former's mandate. New elections are due in 2011.