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MDC pulls out of vote recounting
The Standard (Zimbabwe)
April 19, 2008

View article on the Standard (Zimbabwe) website

The MDC said yesterday it had boycotted the recounting of the votes for Parliament and the Presidency after it alleged the discovery of ballot boxes being opened and the seals broken, while former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, urged African leaders to do more to address the crisis in Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said it had found problems with tallies in 23 of the 210 constituencies.

But MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said yesterday his party would not take part in "a manipulated process whose results are predetermined".

He said some of MDC polling agents had been driven away from counting centres by soldiers and Zanu PF militia, leaving the recounting to ZEC and ruling party officials.

Chamisa said some polling agents had fled into the nearby mountains after riot police raided their homes. Others fled into urban centres fearing for their lives.

"We reject the process and the outcome because we have discovered that ballot boxes were opened and the seals broken," Chamisa said.

Among the areas the MDC claimed to have discovered ballot boxes were tampered with are Bikita South, Bikita West, Zaka South, Zhombe and Silobela.

"Now, with all this happening we don't have confidence in ZEC and the whole recounting process. What we recognise are the initial results, not the ones they have rigged," Chamisa said.

ZEC deputy chief elections officer, Utoile Silayigwana, said he was not aware that ballot boxes were opened, but he would investigate, but efforts to get his comment later were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, recounting started late in most constituencies.

Vote recounting for the Goromonzi West constituency at Domboshava Training Centre started after 1 PM with officials from the MDC-Tsvangirai camp saying they were shocked at the slow process.

Out of the 43 polling stations in the constituency, recounting had been partly covered in six polling stations -- Glen Forest, Resthaven, Joanine, Mistress, Sally Mugabe Heights and Rankine -- by 4PM.

But MDC officials alleged that the voters' roll for one polling station, Domboshava Primary School, was missing.

They allege that ballot boxes were in disarray and that material used and unused were in a mess. They said officials had given the excuse of auditing as the main cause of the mess.

In Matabeleland's Bulilima East constituency the recounting started around midday. There was confusion over the venue.

They also realised that Plumtree VID, the venue, was small and had to take the ballot boxes to Plumtree High School. They started counting ballots for the councillors. ZEC officials said the process would take at least three days.

Norman Mpofu of the MDC Mutambara won Bulilima East. The recounting was delayed because some of the candidates were not present. There was no major incident.

In urging African leaders to do more to address the crisis in Zimbabwe, Annan said the situation was dangerous, and could have an impact beyond the country's borders.

Annan made his comments to reporters in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where he held talks with Zimbabwean opposition leaders on Friday.

"On the question of Zimbabwe there has been substantial international attention.

"The question which has been posed is: where are the Africans? Where are their leaders and the countries in the region, what are they doing?

"It is a rather dangerous situation. It's a serious crisis with impact beyond Zimbabwe."

He said action by African leaders had helped resolve the post-election crisis in Kenya, where mediation led to the formation of a coalition government.

"You've just been through a crisis here, and you've managed to solve it, and I must say the credit goes to the Kenyan people, to the African Union ­-- it was an African solution to an African problem," Annan said.

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