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New Zambian President Gets To Work Amid Vote Rigging Claims
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Mwanawasa warns protestors
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LUSAKA,
Jan. 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Zambia's
new president, Levy Mwanawasa got to work Thursday forming a new government,
despite opposition allegations of vote-rigging and threats of large-scale
protests.
Mwanawasa, the man hand-picked by outgoing president, Frederick Chiluba, was
declared Zambia's third
president on Wednesday with only 28 percent of the popular vote, against 27
percent for his nearest rival, businessman Anderson Mazoka.
The opposition parties are crying foul, with seven of them banding together in a
united front against Mwanawasa, the candidate of the ruling Movement for
Multiparty Democracy (MMD).
They have refused to recognize Mwanawasa's government, boycotted his
inauguration and threatened to take to the streets in protest.
A High Court judge tossed out their complaints of electoral fraud on a
technicality and told them to come back to court in two weeks' time, the
constitutionally mandated waiting period for challenging the results of a
presidential election, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The courts are themselves abetting lawlessness. What this judgment means
is that we have no recourse to law," said Christon Tembo, leader of the
influential Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) party.
The MMD has taken the opposition threats seriously, with police sealing off
every major road in the capital for Mwanawasa's inauguration Wednesday, while
heavily armed riot police patrolled the neighborhoods, telling residents to stay
at home.
Then the government shut down the University of Zambia without explanation, giving students only
hours to pack their bags and leave the campus.
On
Wednesday, the United States appeared unconvinced by opposition complaints of
vote rigging and fraud, saying it had no evidence of irregularities and urged
more specificity in the allegations.
State Department spokesperson, Richard Boucher, has said Wednesday that
international observers, including teams from the European Union and U.S.-based
Carter Center, had not reported the fraud alleged by the opposition.
"Interim reports that have been issued ... have not cited ballot stuffing
or tampering as having been observed," he told reporters.
"Opposition reports of widespread incidents of such fraud had not been
confirmed by independent observers," Boucher added. "We think
opposition groups need to be encouraged to be more specific in their allegations
so that observed or suspected incidents of ballot tampering can be
verified."
Popular discontent with the election results and suspicions of vote-rigging
boiled over into violent protests on Tuesday, when thousands of people smashed
through the High Court's gate and stormed the building.
Riot police doused the court building and its grounds with teargas, as the
protesters fought back with stones and chunks of wood for about an hour.
Mwanawasa
has also warned opponents that protests against his leadership will not be
tolerated.
Speaking
to reporters on Thursday, he said any such protest would be regarded as treason
and punished by police, reported BBC’s online news service.
"I
am a lawfully elected president of Zambia and anyone seeking to disrupt that
process of law is guilty of treason," he said.
Mwanawasa
added that protestors could be prosecuted and, if convicted in court, the
offence carried the death sentence.
"I leave it to the police. I have given
instructions to the police to proceed the way they deem fit," he added.
"The stone-throwing which we have seen in this country should stop
now," Mwanawasa said after taking his oath of office," he said.
"During the elections, we had government, but we were relaxed. But now that
I have been sworn in as president, I will defend the constitution and Zambia,"
he said.
In his inauguration speech, Mwanawasa promised his administration would make
a "new deal" with Zambians and raise living standards by boosting
foreign investment and shoring up the country's dwindling agricultural
production.
To assuage fears that Chiluba would stage-manage Mwanawasa's presidency from
behind the scenes, the retiring president said at the ceremony that he would
step down as head of the MMD.
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