Edgar Chagwa Lungu (born 11 November 1956) has been the President of Zambia since January 2015. Under President Michael Sata, Lungu served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Defense. Following Sata's death in October 2014, Lungu was adopted as the candidate of Sata's party, the Patriotic Front, for the January 2015 presidential by-election. In the election, he narrowly defeated opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema and took office on 25 January 2015.