Rupiah Banda was hastily sworn in as president of Zambia Sunday after snatching victory from the jaws of opposition leader Michael Sata amid accusations from the opposition of vote- rigging, according to dpa. Banda, 71, of the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy, will serve out the remaining three years in ex-leader Levy Mwanawasa's term following Mwanawasa's death of a stroke in August. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was among the dignitaries that attended Banda's swearing in at State House, a few hours after the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) announced he won Thursday's by- election with 40.09 per cent of the vote to 38.13 per cent for Patriotic Front leader Sata. In his inauguration speech, Banda, a former vice-president under Mwanawasa, extended an olive branch to the PF, which has vowed to challenge the election result in court. "United we stand, divided we fall," Banda said, calling on the opposition to put aside their "petty squabbles". When it became apparent that Banda was going to win the vote, small-scale riots broke out Saturday in some poor neighbourhoods of Lusaka a Sata stronghold. Sata had been tipped to win the presidency in two of three opinion polls. By Sunday, the riots had spread to the town of Kitwe in the Copperbelt mining region, where Sata is also popular. Radio Phoenix reported that police were engaged in running battles with Sata supporters. It was not clear how many protestors were involved. Voter turnout in the election was down noticeably on the last presidential election at 45 per cent of the registered 3.9 million voters, against a turnout of over 70 per cent in 2006.
