FACTBOX: Who is president-elect Rupiah Banda?

(Reuters) - Acting President Rupiah Banda has won Zambia's presidential election, defeating leader of the opposition Michael Sata, the electoral commission announced on Sunday.

Banda, who took over after the death of president Levy Mwanawasa, portrays himself as a torchbearer for his predecessor, who was praised by investors for stabilizing the nation and fighting corruption.

Here are some key details about Banda:

* Banda was appointed as Mwanawasa's deputy in October 2006 and then became acting president after Mwanawasa's death on August 19.

* He has a degree in economics and is also a prominent businessman. He is the owner of KB Davis, a firm that supplies mining equipment in the north-central Copperbelt region.

* After Mwanawasa fell out of favor with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe for calling Zimbabwe a "sinking Titanic" in 2007, Banda was dispatched to Harare to smooth ruffled feathers.

* He held many diplomatic posts, including that of Zambia's representative to the United Nations, before being made foreign minister in the 1970s in the administration of Zambia's first post-independence leader, Kenneth Kaunda.

* After his spell as foreign minister, Banda served as a member of parliament between 1978 and 1988.

* He was born in February 1937 in Gwanda, in the south of what was then British-ruled Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

Sources: Reuters/www.newzimbabwe.com