Anti-Rigging Zambia Limited had sued Banda, saying he ceased being a member of the National Assembly after filing nominations as a presidential candidate for the ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) to participate in the October 30 presidential by-election. Zambia goes to the polls following the death of the country's third president Levy Mwanawasa who suffered a second stroke at the end of June. Mwanawasa nominated Banda as member of parliament (MP) before he appointed him as vice president after the deceased head of state was re-elected for a second time in the September 28, 2006 election.
Banda ascended to the position of acting president after Mwanawasa died. Ordinarily, a presidential aspirant who has filed nominations before the Supreme Court to participate in a presidential election ceases to be a member of parliament. But in its ruling, the High Court has directed that Banda "cannot be removed from office because he enjoyed immunity against any action in a court of law for anything done or omitted to be done in his private capacity". Attorney General Mumba Malila, for the sate, told the court that the president or any person acting in that capacity was not amenable to criminal proceedings. This is contained in article 43 (1) of the Constitution.
