Constitutional reforms saw the number of elected seats in the Northern Rhodesian Legislative Council increase to twelve in 1954, with four African members selected by the Northern Rhodesian African Representative Council.
The 1954 elections resulted in a victory for the Federal Party, which won ten seats.
The result was a victory for UNIP, which won 55 of the 75 seats, allowing Kenneth Kaunda to become Prime Minister, and subsequently President when Zambia became independent on 24 October 1964.
Multi-party democracy was restored in 1991, with general elections held in October that year.
The MMD won 125 of the 150 elected seats in an expanded National Assembly, whilst the number of presidential appointees was reduced to eight.
The MMD was reduced to 69 seats in the National Assembly, with opposition parties gaining a majority.
Mwanawasa was re-elected in 2006 with 43% of the vote, although the MMD again failed to win a majority of seats in the National Assembly.
After Mwanawasa's death in 2008, presidential elections were held for a candidate to serve the remainder of his five year term.
After Sata's death in 2014, another presidential by-election was held in 2015 and won by the PF's Edgar Lungu, who received 48% of the vote.
Lungu was re-elected in the 2016 general elections, which also saw the PF gain a majority in the National Assembly, winning 80 of the 156 seats.
Another constitutional referendum in 2016 a majority of those voting were in favour of the amendments to the bill of rights, but turnout was below the 50% threshold required to validate the results.