Row mars Zambia power transfer

Mwanawasa warned the opposition not to cause trouble

Zambian ruling party candidate Levy Mwanawasa has been sworn in as president amid high controversy after the tightest election since independence in 1964.

There are a large number of discrepancies between the parliamentary and the presidential elections

EU observer Michael Meadowcroft

The 10 opposition parties boycotted the ceremony, claiming that fraud and ballot rigging had swayed the result.

Christon Tembo, who heads the Forum for Democracy and Development Party (FDD), said the opposition would challenge the result in the streets and through the courts.

"We have been left with no choice but to mobilise our people throughout the country and intensify protests... until we bring sense to the new government which wants to install itself shamelessly," he said.

Petition rejected

Mr Tembo, a former army commander, led last year's successful campaign to stop outgoing President Frederick Chiluba from changing the constitution and seeking a third term.

The main court buildings, where the ceremony took place, is surrounded by riot police to prevent opposition protests.

Tembo is calling for street protests

The BBC's Richard Lee in Lusaka says the capital is tense and many shops have not opened in case there is a repeat of Tuesday's rioting.

After taking his oath of office, Mr Mwanawasa called for an end to the opposition protests and hinted at strong action if they continued.

"The stone-throwing which we have seen in this country should stop now. 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.

Stepping down

The outgoing President, Frederick Chiluba, announced at the inauguration ceremony that he would step down as president of the ruling MMD party, to enable his successor to be his own man.

Critics had predicted that Mr Chiluba would continue to pull the strings of government, using his party position.

Mr Mwanawasa is Zambia's third president since independence.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia announced that he won with 29% of the vote against 27% for the United Party for National Development (UPND) candidate Anderson Mazoka.

These results are based on 148 of the country's 150 constituencies.

Chief Justice Matthew Ngulube said results from the two remaining constituencies would not affect the outcome of the presidential race.

'Very odd'

Earlier on Wednesday, Zambia's High Court rejected an opposition petition to stop the declaration of Mr Mwanawasa's victory.

High Court Judge Peter Chitengi said that Zambia's constitution only allowed challenges to the presidential election 14 days after the winner had been named.

Mr Mazoka has spoken of 'extensive' ballot-rigging

But he said that the opposition claims did have some merit.

Michael Meadowcroft, head of the EU election monitors in Zambia, also said they were investigating "a number of anomalies" surrounding the elections, which were also for parliamentary seats.

"There are a large number of discrepancies between the parliamentary and the presidential elections," he said.

"In one case, in the Copper Belt, 13,000 people voted in the presidential elections but in the same area only 4,000 voted for the parliamentary candidates. This is quite clearly very odd.

"I would have expected the electoral commission to have investigated these discrepancies before they announced the result."

He says he will know the outcome of his team's investigation within the next couple of days.