Former President of Zambia Edgar Chagwa Lungu (11 November 1956 – 5 June 2025) was a Zambian politician who served as the sixth president of Zambia from 26 January 2015 to 24 August 2021.

Under President Michael Sata, Lungu served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Defence. Following Sata’s death in October 2014, Lungu was adopted as the candidate of the Patriotic Front in a Convention of the Patriotic Front held in Kabwe, for the January 2015 presidential by-election, which was to determine who would serve out the remainder of Sata’s term. In the election, he narrowly defeated opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema and took office on 25 January 2015.

Lungu was elected to a full presidential term in the August 2016 election, again narrowly defeating Hichilema. Hichilema initially disputed the election result and filed a case at the Constitutional Court to nullify the result. On 5 September, however, the court dismissed the case in Lungu’s favour. Lungu was sworn in for his first full term on 13 September 2016.

In 2021, Lungu was defeated by long-time opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema (his 2015 and 2016 opponent), in that year’s presidential election. He died in June 2025 in Pretoria, South Africa following surgery complications.

Lungu was born 11 November 1956 at Ndola Central Hospital. After graduating with a LL.B. in 1981 from the University of Zambia, he joined the law firm Andrea Masiye and Company in Lusaka. He subsequently underwent military officer training at Miltez in Kabwe under Zambia National Service (ZNS). He then returned to practising law. He then entered politics.

In 2010, Edgar Lungu had his law practising licence suspended by the Law Association of Zambia. This was after he was found guilty of professional misconduct.

Edgar Lungu stood as an independent candidate in Chawama constituency at the 1996 general election, with Christon Tembo of the MMD winning the seat ahead of him. After the formation of the United Party for National Development in December 1998, Lungu joined the party.

After the formation of the Patriotic Front in 2001, Lungu joined the party and stood in Chawama constituency at the 2001 general election as the Patriotic Front’s candidate, where he finished seventh in a field of eleven candidates with 2.43% of the vote.

At the 2011 general election, Lungu once again stood as the Patriotic Front candidate for Chawama constituency and won the parliamentary seat. After the PF won that 2011 election, Lungu became Junior Minister in the Vice-President’s office. He was subsequently promoted to Minister of Home Affairs on 9 July 2012. He became Minister of Defence on 24 December 2013 after Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba resigned from his ministerial post, and he functioned as Acting President during President Michael Sata’s long-term illness in 2013–14. He has also held a string of central positions in his party, including Chair of the PF Central Committee on Discipline, and he became PF Secretary General and Minister of Justice on 28 August 2014 to replace Wynter Kabimba, who was fired.

Sata went abroad for medical treatment on 19 October 2014, leaving Lungu in charge of the country in his absence. Sata died on 28 October 2014. Vice-President Dr. Guy Scott took over as Acting President, and Lungu was viewed as one of the main contenders to ultimately succeed Sata in a presidential by-election. This was because Scott was ineligible to stand for election due to his parents not being born in Zambia.

On 3 November 2014, Acting President Dr. Guy Scott dismissed Lungu as Secretary-General of the PF.[18] He replaced him with Davis Mwila, the Member of Parliament for Chipili. The next day, Scott reinstated Lungu. On 30 November, Lungu was elected as President of the Patriotic Front at a national convention of the party held in Kabwe, Zambia. However, the convention was unusual because no voting took place. Instead, the unaccredited delegates elected him by raising hands.

Lungu married Esther Lungu in 1986 and had six children, including Tasila Lungu, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chawama (elected in 2021). He and his family were practising Baptists.

In 2015, it was disclosed that Lungu was being treated outside of Zambia for achalasia. In August 2024, he collapsed during a televised military event due to a hypoglycaemic attack, a complication of achalasia.

In early 2025, Lungu travelled to South Africa to receive specialised treatment for an undisclosed illness. By May 2025, it was reported that his condition was steady despite rumours about his ailing health. On the morning of 5 June 2025, Lungu died after suffering cardiac complications from a surgery he was undergoing at the Mediclinic Medforum in Pretoria, South Africa. He was 68 years old.

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