Supreme Court upholds Mwanawasa's election

A Supreme Court ruling upholding the controversial election of Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa has received a mixed response from civil society.

While acknowledging that the 2001 ballot was flawed, the Court ruled on Wednesday that the irregularities had not affected the final result, and declined to order a recount of election results.

The complaints filed in January 2002, just 14 days after Mwanawasa took office, alleged that the poll had been rigged, and that the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy had used state funds to buy campaign vehicles - a violation of Zambian law.

In an interview with the Post newspaper after the judgement, Mwanawasa called for reconciliation with opposition parties. "I can only hope that we can come together with my colleagues who have lost, so that we can bury the differences and forge together as a nation," he was reported as saying.

The judgement has attracted sharp criticism from the opposition and NGOs, who have raised concerns over the independence of the judiciary and the country's electoral laws.

"The judiciary is itself under trial - we will wait for the people to give the verdict later," Christon Tembo, president of the opposition party, Forum for Democracy and Development, told the Post.

Meanwhile, Anderson Mazoka, leader of the main opposition, the United Party for National Development, refused to comment on the ruling, saying his party needed time to "analyse the judgment".

Under the present constitution Mwanawasa is the final authority on appointments to the judiciary, and constitutional offices like the Electoral Commission. While the judgment headed off fears of a constitutional crisis, observers said the ruling illustrated the need to reform the country's electoral laws.

"Although the judgement has brought the whole process of litigation to an end, it has not resolved the electoral disputes raised in the petition. People have to respect the judgement, but it is very important to introduce electoral reforms to avoid a re-run of this situation," Samuel Mulafulafu, president of the civic group, Foundation for Democratic Process, told IRIN.

According to Jack Jones Zulu, a Lusaka-based economist, the judgement "came as no surprise".

"Very few people are surprised by the Supreme Court ruling, especially if one considers the repercussions if the judges nullified Mwanawasa's win. Firstly, it would have been too costly for the country to restage an election but, also, it would have triggered a string of legal challenges, which would have been both time-consuming and detrimental to all parties involved," he pointed out.

Mwanawasa's government has been at loggerheads with opposition and civil groups, who are demanding that the new constitution be enacted before elections in 2006, to level the political playing field ahead of the polls, dilute executive powers, and require a presidential candidate to win more than 50 percent of the vote.

Mwanawasa picked up nearly 29 percent of the vote in the 2001 poll, followed closely by Mazoka, who garnered about 27 percent.