ZIMBABWE:ZIMBABWE'S MAIN opposition party is seeking a high court order to reverse a decision by the country's electoral commission to recount votes from disputed constituencies in the March 29th general election.
The party filed its application on Friday as regional leaders gathered in Lusaka, Zambia, to discuss the country's election crisis. Yesterday, the leaders issued a joint statement calling for the presidential election result to be released "expeditiously".
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) notified the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that it was going to carry out plans to recount votes cast in 23 of the country's 210 constituencies late last week. The court hearing on the matter is set for tomorrow.
Opposition lawyer Alec Muchadehama told local media that the basis of their case was that the ruling party representatives had already signed off on the official tallies from the districts in question. "Suddenly, two weeks later, the same person who said, 'this is the outcome', and signed for it says they need a recount," said Mr Muchadehama.
Electoral commission chairman Justice George Chiweshe was quoted in the state-run Sunday Mail yesterday as saying his commission had "reasonable grounds" to believe that votes in the constituencies had been miscounted and the recount was to take place next Saturday.
Despite concerns over the commission's failure to release the presidential result, the opposition broke president Robert Mugabe's grip on power when it won control of parliament with 110 seats to the ruling Zanu-PF's 97 seats.
A recount could reverse those gains, and the MDC alleges that the ruling regime has been trying to tamper with votes and ballot boxes since the official results were released 13 days ago.
"We will not accept any recount because for us that is accepting rigged results. ZEC are in custody of the ballot boxes for two weeks and heavens know what they have done to the ballot papers. They might have stuffed them with their votes," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.
The Southern African Development Community's (SADC) decision to hold an emergency summit on Saturday was made last Wednesday amid growing concerns that the long delay in releasing the presidential poll result was edging the crisis closer to a more violent phase in which security forces could be turned on civilians.
An all-out nationwide strike called for by the MDC is due to start tomorrow and continue until the official result has been released. On Friday the government banned all rallies in Harare after it was alleged the MDC was planning to take its grievances to the streets.
The party claims that tallies posted outside polling stations 48 hours after the vote showed its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the presidential election outright.
The ruling regime has indicated it believes that, when released, official result will show a second-round head-to-head between Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai is needed.
After more than 13 hours of discussions, the SADC urged "that verification and release of results are expeditiously done in accordance with the due process of law".
"[ The] summit also urged all the parties in the electoral process in Zimbabwe to accept the results when they are announced," it said in its statement, before adding that if the official result showed a runoff was needed, then all parties must comply.
Opening the summit, Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa urged SADC members not to "turn a blind eye" to the situation in Zimbabwe, which he said was creating "economic and political difficulties" in the region.
However, the summit's effectiveness was significantly undermined by the decision of Mr Mugabe to boycott it and it fell short of MDC calls for neighbouring leaders to put pressure on him to stand down after 28 years in power.
Before meeting his counterparts in Lusaka, South African president Thabo Mbeki flew to Harare where he met Mr Mugabe. Afterwards he said there was "no crisis" affecting the electoral process.
Despite the call for the MDC to backtrack - the party has said it will not participate in a second-round runoff - MDC secretary general Tendai Biti said they were largely satisfied with the outcome of the summit. "This is a major improvement, SADC has acquitted itself fairly well," he said.
Zimbabwe's high court is due to rule today on whether it will order the ZEC to release its presidential result immediately.