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Vote recount likely to take more than three days: ZEC
Agence France-Presse (AFP)
April 20, 2008

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCMlIwozEQXOblVF8xCNrdJkPxLQ

The ongoing partial vote recount from last month's general elections in Zimbabwe, which has triggered controversy, could go beyond the three days initially envisaged, the electoral agency said Sunday.

"Initially we had said it would take three days to complete the exercise but since we had delays we may be going above the three days," Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) deputy chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana told AFP.

"It is not a small exercise and we want to ensure that there are no mistakes this time around," he said.

He said that the recount, which entered its second day on Sunday, was going smoothly but was likely to run on following delays at some polling stations on the first day, Saturday.

"Everything is going on well so far. We have had no complaints from either parties," the ruling ZANU-PF and opposition MDC, Silaigwana said.

"We had delays when we started yesterday because in some cases the initial consultations took long but the process eventually started. In some cases the starting was delayed by the late arrival of polling agents," he added.

But MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa on Sunday alleged "criminality" in the vote-counting, accusing President Robert Mugabe's regime of "playing games with the people."

"More than ever before, we are convinced that this regime is playing games with the people," he told AFP.

"We have information that in some cases ballot boxes were not properly sealed. This is just a circus and we are not going to endorse such a flawed and criminal process," he said.

"The level of criminality has shown that ZEC is just an extension of ZANU-PF", he said.

The MDC has accused President Robert Mugabe and his party of trying to rig their way back to power.

The recounts in 23 of the 210 constituencies came amid rising tension and accusations of violence, with a leading human rights group charging that Mugabe followers were now rounding up opposition supporters and assaulting them in torture camps.

Initial results gave the opposition MDC control of parliament in the March 29 polls but the recount could end up with Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party regaining its majority.

There was still no word on Sunday on the outcome of a simultaneous presidential ballot although MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has claimed victory, ending Mugabe's 28 years at the helm.

"We expect them to complete the recount within the next three to four days," ZEC chairman George Chiweshe had on Saturday initially told AFP.

Chiweshe ordered the recount after ZANU-PF complained about a string of irregularities in the constituencies.

After the opposition failed in a legal bid Friday to halt the process, ZEC officials began recounting on Saturday morning in each of the constituencies in the presence of party agents and foreign monitors.

The MDC, which was declared to have taken 109 seats against 97 for ZANU-PF, has long regarded the nominally independent ZEC as a pro-government body and sees the recount as a ploy to steal back control of parliament.

The MDC secretary general, Tendai Biti, was scheduled to address a news conference on Sunday in Johannesburg on the outcome of his meeting in Kenya with former UN secretary general Kofi Annan and the ongoing recount of ballots, the party said in a statement.

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