EU considers response to new government

The European Union (EU) criticised Zambia's general elections in December as seriously flawed, but is not rushing to impose sanctions on the new government of President Levy Mwanawasa. "There is more than one way to try and influence a situation for the better," an EU official in Brussels told IRIN. "You can encourage best practice by encouraging talking." She rejected any comparison with Zimbabwe - where an EU election observer team was pulled out this week and sanctions imposed on the political leadership. "The two cases are qualitatively and quantitatively different". In Zambia, "the important element is whether the results matched people's expectations rather than the bloodshed we are seeing in Zimbabwe." The EU observer mission to Zambia concluded in its final report released on 5 February that: "In view of the administrative failures on polling day, the serious flaws in the counting and tabulation procedures, together with the close outcome of the elections, we are not confident that the declared results represent the wishes of the Zambian electors on polling day." Brussels has asked European heads of mission in Lusaka to recommend steps to be taken in the wake of the mission's findings. The envoys in turn are awaiting a formal response from the government to the February report, and the outcome of a legal challenge in the Supreme Court by three opposition parties that allege the results of the 27 December election were rigged. "There are processes in train on both tracks," a Western diplomat in Lusaka told IRIN. Meanwhile, Mwanawasa who had earlier angrily accused the EU observers of bias and encouraging anarchy in Zambia, on Sunday offered Brussels what local media described as an "olive branch". "I extend my hand of friendship to the EU so that we can work together to revamp this nation," Mwanawasa reportedly said. "As a matter of fact, I want to state that sometime next week, I should be able to find time to meet the ambassadors of the EU in order to chart a way forward. That is the hand of friendship, which I extend." Mwanawasa won just 29 percent of the vote in the December elections. Zambia's parliament is for the first time in its history dominated by the opposition, which holds 81 of the 158 seats. Zambia's national budget is expected to be read this week, and donor aid accounts for around 50 percent of government revenue. The EU observer mission report can be viewed at: http://europa.eu.int