Government of Zambia President of Zambia World
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Levy Mwanawasa the former President of Zambia was born September 3, 1948 in Mufulira. Mwanawasa has nine siblings. Mwanawasa is married and the father of six children. Mwanawasa holds a law degree from the University of Zambia and worked in private law firms from 1974 until 1978. In 1978 Mwanawasa formed his own law firm called Mwanawasa and company. In 1985 Mwanawasa briefly served as Solicitor General in the Zambian government before returning to his own private practice in 1986. Mwanawasa was appointed Vice- President in 1991 by President Frederick Chiluba. Mwanawasa served as Vice President from 1991 until 1994 when he resigned.

Upon resignation Mwanawasa cited abuse of office and corruption by government leaders and insubordination by his employees as reasons that supported his move to resign. In December of 1991 Mwanawasa was involved in a car accident. Political opponents within his party have been suspected of orchestrating the accident as an assassination attempt. Mwanawasa's aide died on the spot. Mwanawasa suffered multiple injuries and was flown to Johannesburg South Africa for medical treatment. Mwanawasa remained hospitalized for three months. A lasting affect of the accident is Mwanawasa's slurred speech. A commission of inquiry was instated to establish who, if anyone was responsible for the assassination attempt. The investigation concluded that there was no plot to assassinate Vice President Mwanawasa.

In 1996 Mwanawasa ran against Chiluba for Presidency. Mwanawasa was unsuccessful and retired from active politics for the second time. In 2001 Mwanawasa was elected by the National Executive Committee of the Movement for Multi-party Democracy, (MMD) as its presidential candidate. Mwanawasa won the election. Following the election, both domestic and international election monitors reported major voting irregularities such as vote rigging, flawed voter registration, biased media coverage, and the improper use of state resources by MMD. In 2002 three of Mwanawasa's opposing candidates petitioned the Supreme Court to overthrow Mwanawasa's victory. Although the court acknowledged that the polls were flawed, they concluded that these flaws did not affect the results and declined the petition.

In January of 2005 Mwanawasa publicly apologized for not effectively solving the problem of poverty in Zambia. According to the United Nation's indicator of absolute poverty, 75% of Zambia's population lives on less than $1 a day. Despite Mwanawasa's failure to address Zambian poverty, he ran for a second term and won. On October 3, 2006 Mwanawasa was sworn in for his second term as the President of Zambia.