He has been a policeman, car assembly worker, trade unionist and platform sweeper at London's Victoria Station.

To that list, Michael Sata, the man Zambians like to call King Cobra, can now add the job of president.

Coming just 10 years after he split from Zambia's ruling party to go it alone on a largely nationalist ticket, Sata's victory over incumbent Rupiah Banda on Friday represents an astonishing ascent of the political ladder.

But it has also cast Africa's biggest copper producer into the unknown, with many Zambians and outsiders wondering what hat the gruff 74-year-old will be wearing when he takes over the reins.

His most famous attribute is a vicious tongue - a reputation enhanced by the rearing cobra statue that sits among the papers scattered across his desk in the rundown headquarters of his Patriotic Front (PF) party.

"I haven't bloody lost, so don't waste my time," he barked at a BBC reporter in 2008 after results showed he had, indeed, lost an election to Banda, albeit by the narrowest of margins.

However, the venom of his speech may not be matched by the veracity. "Although seen as a straight talker, the PF leader's discourse is not burdened by an unwavering commitment to accuracy or truth," the US embassy's charge d'affaires wrote in a 2008 diplomatic cable entitled "Who is the King Cobra?"

"What he lacks in strategic thinking, he makes up for in political cunning and force of character," the cable, released by WikiLeaks, continued.

Counting in his favour is considerable experience of political office, including overseeing the local government, health and labour portfolios under the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD), which, until this week, had run Zambia since 1991.

Under first president Kenneth Kaunda, Sata won a reputation as a no-nonsense man of action while governor of the capital, Lusaka.

But the modern Zambia is a very different place from the one overseen by Kaunda's socialist, command-economy thinking for the 27 years after independence, a reality pointedly alluded to by Banda in a tearful concession speech.

"My generation, the generation of the independence struggle, must now give way to new ideas, ideas for the 21st century," said Banda, 74.

A flood of investment into the mining sector has unleashed an economic boom, and Zambia's high-yielding domestic bonds are now considered an option for fund managers everywhere.

Its currency, the kwacha, is also tossed around on the financial waves emanating from Europe's debt crisis, meaning Sata will have to respond to very powerful and complex forces way beyond his control.

With the scent of victory fresh in his nostrils, few expect him to take his foot off the pedal, especially when it comes to rooting out graft.

"Sata is one of Africa's strongest anti-corruption campaigners and is expected to launch a strong anti-corruption purge," investment consultancy DaMina Advisers said.