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ZIMBABWE: MDC continues court challenges as MPs sworn in
IRIN News
April 13, 2005

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46623

JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has taken its seats in parliament while pressing ahead with court challenges to the 31 March legislative election results.

Forty-one MDC MPs were sworn in on Tuesday as the party geared up for a court battle to prove electoral fraud in several constituencies, while facing the daunting task of remaining relevant to Zimbabwe's political landscape.

Analyst Brian Raftopoulos told IRIN on Wednesday that the MDC's role in parliament would be limited, given the ruling ZANU-PF's two-thirds majority in the legislature.

The MDC had earlier debated whether or not to boycott parliament. "Basically they don't have any alternatives: if they boycott parliament, then what? What do they do?" Raftopoulos asked.

"Taking up their seats was probably the right thing to do, [though] their role in parliament will be limited - they don't have a blocking mechanism [in terms of votes in the house]. All they can do is be a voice in the legislature around problematic issues in the country, and continue to expose the policies - or lack of policies - of the state, and the increasingly authoritarian measures that are likely to come out [of the ruling party's majority]," he commented.

Although news reports said new speaker John Nkomo had extended an olive branch to the MDC by highlighting the need for bipartisan cooperation in the legislature, Raftopoulos believed it would be premature to postulate any significant shift in ZANU-PF strategy.

Apart from its electoral court challenge, the MDC had to work on strengthening its organisation and "build a longer-term vision of what alternatives it wants to present; where the party is going, etc. It's a big task ahead for the party," Raftopoulos said.

MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube told journalists at a press conference on Wednesday that the party had already filed one of its election challenges with the Electoral Court, and would file petitions for several other constituencies over the next few days.

"Irregularities were witnessed throughout the process ... our aim on this electoral challenge is to expose the extent to which the elections were rigged," Ncube said.

"The total voter tallies, finalised by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission at 7:30 p.m. on election day, do not match the collective count for the candidates announced on the days following the election. Between close of polling and the announcement of winning and losing results over the next 48 hours, a further quarter of a million votes appeared on the total," Ncube noted.

Under the Electoral Act, challenges must be launched within 14 days of the announcement of election results.

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