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Zimbabwe poll petition rejected
BBC News
April 14, 2008

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7345874.stm

A Zimbabwean court has ruled against an opposition demand for the immediate release of last month's presidential election results.

High Court judge Tendai Uchena rejected the Movement for Democratic Change's petition to force the electoral commission to release the result.

The MDC says its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the election outright, beating President Robert Mugabe.

Regional leaders have urged the publication of the results.

Independent tallies suggested Mr Tsvangirai won the 29 March poll, but took less than 50% of the vote, meaning he would have to face a run-off vote.

There could be even further delay as the government has ordered votes in certain constituencies to be recounted.

The electoral commission says it is going ahead next Saturday with a recount of presidential and parliamentary results in 23 constituencies where it claims there have been irregularities.

The ruling Zanu-PF requested a recount in 22 seats, while an MDC application for a recount in one constituency has also been granted.

The parliamentary election saw Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF lose its majority.

But the majority could be recovered if Zanu-PF is awarded just nine of the 23 seats subject to a recount.

"They had custody of the ballot boxes for two weeks and they must have stuffed them with their votes," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

Zimbabwean government spokesman Bright Matonga said: "There is a court process that we follow. What we are doing is within the law."

'Democracy gone wrong'

The speaker of the South African parliament, Baleka Mbete, has denounced the failure to publish the results of the presidential election as a case of "democracy gone wrong".

"As parliamentarians, we cannot remain silent when we witness sufferings and violation of human rights. We can also not remain silent about the situation in Zimbabwe," she said.

Miss Mbete is a political ally of Jacob Zuma, who is tipped to succeed Thabo Mbeki as South African president, and who last week himself criticised the delays in Zimbabwe.

Mr Mbeki has been accused of failing to exert enough pressure on Mr Mugabe.

After a summit of southern African leaders at the weekend, the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) called for the election results to be announced speedily.

But it did not urge Mr Mugabe to step aside, as the MDC had wished.

MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti described the summit outcome as a "major improvement".

But he called on Mr Mbeki to show "more vigour, more openness and a complete abandonment of the policy of quiet diplomacy".

Under President Mugabe, a drawn-out economic collapse in Zimbabwe has seen hyper-inflation, massive unemployment and the departure of hundreds of thousands of people.

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