Zambia's Supreme Court has rejected a petition by opposition leader Michael Sata for a vote recount of the October 30, 2008 presidential election in one of Africa's most economically successful countries.


LUSAKA, ZAMBIA (MARCH 11, 2009) REUTERS -
Zambia's Supreme Court has rejected a petition by opposition leader
Michael Sata for a recount of the votes in the October 30, 2008 presidential
election in Africa's biggest copper producer.

Sata was seeking a recount before the start of the main election
petition through which he is asking the court to nullify the victory of Rupiah
Banda, saying the vote was rigged.

The court set April 27 as the start for that hearing.
"I am instructing my lawyers to abandon the whole process, we are
not going to go, we are not going to go for further humiliation on the 27th,
we are not going to go for further humiliation," Sata told journalists
after the Supreme Court announced its decision.
In a separate submission, Sata said the electoral commission had
allowed voting to be extended by two days in some rural constituencies, giving
an advantage to Banda.

He said the huge number of spoiled votes recorded in his urban
strongholds were intended to give victory to Banda.

The electoral commission said the poll extension was due to problems in
delivering election materials to remote parts of the country with poor road
networks.

Sata had provided the court with written affidavits which his
supporters signed outlining vote fraud but the Supreme Court said it could not
rely on that evidence.
"This does not mean we have accepted the legitimacy of Mr. Rupiah
Banda. We have not accepted the legitimacy of Mr. Rupiah Banda, if the Supreme
Court wanted or if the judicial system wanted, they should have allowed a
re-count and after the re-count, if he was going to come out even with one
vote, we were going to congratulate him and endorse his legitimacy but the
Supreme Court has now heightened our suspicion," Sata continued.

Banda had earlier called on the Supreme Court to dismiss Sata's
petition, which raised the prospect of prolonged political uncertainty in a
country suffering badly from the fall in copper prices caused by the global
economic downturn.
"So justice has been done and nobody, we should not fight, we
should not quarrel," said William Banda, a senior member of the ruling
Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MDD).

The election was held to replace Levy Mwanawasa, who died in August
after a stroke. Mwanawasa's fiscal discipline won praise from Western donors
and investors.

Banda -- acting president after Mwanawasa's death -- won 40 percent of
the 1.79 million votes cast versus 38 percent for Sata, according to final
results released by the electoral commission. The margin of victory was 35,209
votes.