Michael Charles Chilufya Sata (6 July 1937 – 28 October 2014) was a Zambian politician who served as the fifth president of Zambia from 2011 until his death in 2014.

A social democrat,[2] he led the Patriotic Front (PF), a major political party in Zambia.

Under President Frederick Chiluba, Sata was a minister during the 1990s as part of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) government.

After ten years in opposition, Sata defeated Banda, the incumbent, to win the September 2011 presidential election with a plurality of the vote.

Michael Charles Chilufya Sata was born on 6 July 1937,[3][4] and brought up in Mpika, Northern Province.

"[11] After Frederick Chiluba defeated Kaunda in 1991, Sata became one of Zambia's most instantly recognisable faces.

[12][13][citation needed] In 1995, he was appointed minister without portfolio, the party's national organising secretary during which his political style was described as "increasingly abrasive".

[14][citation needed] In 2001, President Chiluba nominated Levy Mwanawasa as the MMD's presidential candidate for the 2001 election.

While others on the slate of candidates contesting the election frequently resorted to personal attacks and insults, Sata's remarks were at times quite equally scathing.

The cabbage was a reference to Mwanawasa's speech impediment, which was the result of an injury sustained in a 1992 car crash.

[15] He has also accused Mwanawasa of "selling out" Zambia to international interests, and at one event, he referred to Hong Kong as a country and Taiwan as a sovereign state.

[21] On 2 October, the Zambian Electoral Commission announced that Mwanawasa had officially won the election; final results put Sata in second place with about 29% of the vote.

[22][23] Sata was arrested in early December 2006, accused of making a false declaration of his assets when applying to run for president in August, along with other charges.

[31] Sata was unanimously chosen as the PF's candidate for the presidential by-election at a meeting of its Central Committee on 30 August 2008.

Accepting the nomination, he expressed the need "to scrub this country and wash it"; he also said that he would refrain from campaigning until after Mwanawasa's funeral.

[35] Sata said that he would not accept a victory for Banda because there was "no way MMD can win", and he alleged that the Electoral Commission and the police were working together to rig the election.

Results showed him receiving about 43% of the vote against 36% for Banda, and Chief Justice Ernest Sakala accordingly declared that he had won the election in the early hours of 23 September.

"[41] In 2008, he said that he would revoke licenses for foreign investors if they resisted his orders to give at least a 25% stake in their companies to Zambians.

[42] At his inauguration as President of Zambia, Sata assured foreign investors that they were welcome in his country, Africa's biggest copper producer, but said they must improve conditions for their Zambian employees.

Observers thought he seemed unwell when he opened parliament on 19 September and over the course of the following month he failed to appear in public again.