Zambia: Constitutional crisis looms

Zambia's top court may throw the country into a constitutional crisis over who should be head of state if it finds the election which voted President Levy Mwanawasa into office was illegitimate, analysts said. The Supreme Court is due on Wednesday to deliver its judgement on a petition brought by opposition parties which claims the 2001 elections were rigged. "There might be a constitutional crisis in the event the court decides to nullify the 2001 election results because there is no provision in the law as to who should be the interim president," said Alfred Chanda, a prominent Lusaka constitutional lawyer.