Zambian opposition leader Michael Sata is seeking a recount in last week's presidential election, which he lost to the ruling party's Rupiah Banda by just 35 000 votes, a spokesperson said on Monday.

Sata's Patriotic Front has written to the election commission seeking a recount in 78 of Zambia's 150 constituencies, saying the tallies should be verified by independent monitors and party agents, spokesperson Given Mubinda said.

"We hope the recount and verification can be done soon," he told AFP.

"We merely want a recount which will show that the results were not accurate," he added.

Banda, of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), was sworn in as president on Sunday — just two hours after election officials declared him the winner with 40.09 percent of the vote to Sata's 38.13 percent.

Sata won't take a defeat

Even before the ballots were cast, Sata warned that he would not accept a defeat and accused election officials of rigging the ballots and inflating the voter roll in favour of the ruling party.

The election commission has denied the charges, and African observers declared the vote free and fair.

Scores of Sata's supporters rioted in a Lusaka slum late Saturday in protest at the outcome, burning stalls in a market and throwing stones in the streets, according to witnesses.

Police used teargas to break up the crowd, and no other incidents have been reported.

Sata supporters in Lusaka said they believed the claims of vote fraud.

"I'm not happy because the election was not fair, I think there was vote-rigging," said Charles Mamba (27).

The vote was marred by fraud

Hakainde Hichilema, leader of the smaller United Party for National Development (UPND) who placed third in the race, said he also believed the vote was marred by fraud.

But Hichilema said that he would not challenge the results in court, saying he was focussing on general elections due in 2011.

The election was called following the death of president Levy Mwanwasa in August.

Banda will now serve out the last three years of Mwanawasa's term.

Analysts said that Banda's narrow election victory in a race with only 45 percent voter turnout highlighted public frustrations with the MMD, which has run Zambia since 1991.

Sata (71), won strong support in Lusaka and in the Copperbelt, which host most of Zambia's jobs in the key mining industry, where many were drawn to his promises of better jobs and housing.

He made inroads in rural areas

But the results showed Sata — who was in his third presidential bid — had made inroads in rural areas that had previously supported the ruling party.

Rural Zambia has largely been left out of Zambia's recent economic gains.

Under Mwanawasa, Zambia posted average economic growth of 4.9 percent over the last seven years, due largely to the global commodities boom which sent prices soaring for copper, the country's main export.

But 51 percent of the country's 11.7 million people still live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than one dollar a day.

Banda, a 71-year-old Western-educated former diplomat, had campaigned on promises to maintain Mwanawasa's economic policies, saying he would bring stability to the country.

He faces tough social challenges in a country where more than one million people have HIV, while Zambia's economic outlook is darkening as copper prices tumbled by 50 percent from their peak in July.

AFP