Presidential incumbent Levy Mwanawasa is to be sworn in after winning a second and final term in office with 42 percent of the vote, with his nearest rival conceding defeat and calling for an end to election protests, writes IRINnews, Tuesday.
Clashes between security forces and supporters of presidential candidate Michael Sata rocked several Zambian towns on Sunday amid allegations of wide-scale fraud after Sata’s initial clear lead in the first two days of the vote count waned.
Final results by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) gave Sata 29 percent with Hakainde Hichilema, head of the three-party United Democratic Alliance, in third place on 25 percent of the 2.52 million votes cast.
Troops and police were deployed in the capital, Lusaka, after opposition supporters rampaged through at least five townships, while protests also erupted in the Northern and Copperbelt provinces, both strongholds of Sata’s Patriotic Front (PF) party. Shops were looted, cars were torched and police used teargas to quell the violence. There were no reports of fatalities, but businesses stayed shut on Monday.
In a state television address on Sunday night, Mwanawasa, leader of the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD), accused the opposition of being behind the violence and warned that “the law enforcement agencies will deal – and deal firmly – with all those who are fomenting trouble”.
Kilde: www.irinnews.org
