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2008 harmonised elections - Index of articles
High
Court postpones decision on MDC presidential vote case, again
Lance Guma, SW Radio Africa
April 08, 2008
http://www.swradioafrica.com/News080408/Court080408.htm
High Court judge
Tendai Uchena postponed to Wednesday a ruling on an application
by the MDC demanding the release of presidential election results
from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. Despite an earlier ruling
that the matter was urgent, the judge demanded a second round of
hearings 'to deal with matters with full concentration.'
It remained unclear whether the judge was physically tired or just
needed more time and arguments from the different legal teams. The
case will begin again 10am on Wednseday.
Opposition lawyer Alec
Muchadehama told the court his clients 'have a legitimate
concern to have the results announced expeditiously.' ZEC
however had sought to block the High Court from intervening, by
arguing it had no jurisdiction to order ZEC to announce the results.
This argument was thrown out by Uchena and paved the way Tuesday
for the actual court case to begin. Both ZEC and MDC lawyers spent
the day putting forward their main legal arguments on the matter.
It has taken
over 4 days just for the matter to be heard. On Saturday armed police
temporarily
blocked MDC lawyers from accessing the courts. When they were
eventually allowed inside ZEC lawyers said they were not ready and
this forced a postponement to Sunday. The judge on Sunday delayed
until Monday, a ruling on whether he could actually hear the case.
On Monday he said he could but delayed until Tuesday a decision
on whether it was an urgent matter. Zanu PF meanwhile has started
a crackdown, arresting as yet unnamed ZEC officials under the guise
of investigating alleged vote irregularities.
Zimbabweans cast their
votes 10 days ago and up till now Mugabe has ordered a freeze on
any announcement of the presidential result. New information suggests
the Zanu PF leader might have lost the poll by a bigger margin than
initially reported and his regime is desperately trying to massage
the figures to necessitate a second round of voting. Others suggest
Mugabe is buying time to plot his next political move and is trying
to boost morale in his camp by unleashing a show of force around
the country.
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