ZAMBIA: Mr Levy Mwanawasa was sworn in as Zambia's new President yesterday just hours after the High Court rejected a petition claiming the ruling party had rigged the vote in his favour.
The inauguration took place amid tight security as the tense southern African nation assessed the fallout from an acrimonious and sometimes violent count. Police helicopters overflew the empty streets of the capital, Lusaka, where shops had closed following violent clashes between police and protesters on Tuesday.
And the leading opposition candidate, Mr Andersen Mazoka, repeated his allegations of vote-rigging, claiming that he was the rightful president of Zambia. Mr Mazoka lost the contest by just under 35,000 votes, or 2 per cent of the electorate.
His allegations have been partly backed up by EU and other election monitors, who noted some irregularities, particularly in the drawn-out count.
But Mr Mwanawasa warned that he would not tolerate further violent protest.
"Now that I've been sworn in as president . . . I will defend the constitution and assure the vote is applied," he said at a ceremony guarded by 1,000 police.
"If this nonsense will not stop now and continues, then I'm not the president."
Mr Mwanawasa is the chosen heir to the outgoing president, Mr Frederick Chiluba, who has ruled Zambia since 1991.
Mr Chiluba was initially hailed as a progressive leader but his popularity steadily declined due to increasing corruption, a declining economy and chronic food shortages.
A respected lawyer, Mr Mwanawasa (53) spent much of the election campaign fighting claims that he is unfit to hold office due to a 1993 car crash that left him mentally impaired. He made a number of public gaffes - such as once referring to Mr Chiluba as his sister - and opponents nicknamed him "The Cabbage".
While acknowledging a speech impediment, Mr Mwanawasa insisted that he was otherwise in perfect health.
A founding member of the ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) party, he served as vice-president until 1994.