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The endorsement of the main presidential challenger by former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba against the incumbent President Levy Mwanawasa has thrown the southern African country into heated political bickering just a few days ahead of next week's tripartite elections.

The second republican leader openly declared his support for Michael Sata, opposition Patriotic Front (PF) leader and one of the presidential aspirants, upon his returning Sunday from South Africa where he underwent medical review for heart problems.

Chiluba, who accused his successor Mwanawasa of destroying the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) vision, called for people to vote for Sata whom he described as "hard working."

In reaction, Mwanawasa said it was Chiluba's democratic right to support whomever he wanted in the presidential elections but expressed hope that the former leader would not engage in active politics.

"The only mistake made here (by Chiluba) is to take an active stance in politics because that is infringing the law," Mwanawasa was quoted by Zambia Daily Mail as saying.

Mwanawasa was rated as the most favored presidential candidate in three opinion polls conducted earlier, with support rate ranging from 33 percent to 51 percent ahead of Sata and Untied Democratic Alliance (UDA) leader Hakainde Hichilema.

However, a University of Zambia opinion poll two weeks ago showed Sata with 52 percent of voters' support, followed by Mwanawasa at 27 percent and Lusaka businessman Hichilema at 20 percent.

Political analysts say Chiluba's endorsement of Sata would win the former minister in Chiluba's administration extra votes in the northern regions of Zambia, where Chiluba enjoys wide popularity.

Monday's state-run newspaper Times of Zambia commented that Chiluba's support for Sata might not come as a surprise to many people.

After coming into power in 2001, Mwanawasa set up an anti- corruption task force and Chiluba was accused of stealing US$488,000 of public funds during his 10-year tenure.

Sata has promised last week to stop the court cases against the former president once he was elected into power.

Apart from that, Chiluba has been supporting Sata since the formation of the opposition of PF, the newspaper said, adding that the only new aspect is that the former leader has come out in the open this time.

Before the 2001 elections, Sata helped Chiluba to seek a third term but failed amid strong opposition as the constitution only allows a president for two consecutive terms.

After that, it was Mwanawasa instead of Sata that was surprisingly handpicked by Chiluba as the credible candidate for the MMD in that year's elections.

Sata, then No. 2 in the ruling MMD, quitted the party and formed his own PF to contest the 2001 elections but ended up with a paltry 3 percent supporting.

The newspaper questioned Chiluba what has changed about the PF leader five years later that makes him a better candidate with a vision to take the country forward.

Mwanawasa refused to be a puppet of his predecessor after he won the 2001 election, though narrowly, and this extremely hurt Chiluba especially after he was dragged into the money-plunder scandal later.

Chiluba's support for Sata is therefore a case of sour grapes, the newspaper said, pointing out further that the Chiluba-Sata alliance is always a marriage of convenience and destruction.

Zambia's first president Kenneth Kaunda has openly campaigned for Hichilema, whose UDA is composed of three main opposition parties including the United National Independence Party (UNIP), the former ruling party that Kaunda served for about 30 years.

With the two main presidential challengers backed respectively by two former leaders of the country, Mwanawasa would face a tougher challenge in seeking his second and final five-year term.

(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2006)