Judge defers ruling on MDC demand for election results
By Lance Guma
06 April 2008

Lawyers representing the MDC urged the High Court on Sunday to force the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to release results for the presidential election that ended 8 days ago. After armed police temporarily blocked opposition lawyers from accessing the courts on Saturday, the environment was more peaceful Sunday as Justice Tendai Uchena listened to arguments from both the MDC and ZEC legal teams. The electoral commission insisted the High Court had no jurisdiction to force them to release the results, but opposition lawyers said ZEC as a statutory body could not just do as it pleases and had to work within the law.

MDC lawyer Alec Muchadehama told the court; ‘The results of the presidential poll were actually posted at polling stations at ward level. After the poll was held on March 29, results were actually available on March 30.’ ZEC meanwhile argued the delay ‘has been necessitated by complaints from political parties who are disputing certain results.’ In an interview with Newsreel Muchadehama said ZEC did not mention which party had lodged the complaints, but it was Zanu PF who did so. Justice Uchena has said he will deliver a ruling on the matter Monday by 10am.

Zanu PF however is desperate to reverse its stunning loss to the MDC in both parliamentary and presidential elections and has called for a recount of the votes. They accused the opposition of bribing officials from ZEC and want votes in 16 constituencies recounted. The party claims there were, ‘errors and miscalculations in the compilation of the poll result.’ Commentators say the party wants to alter the parliamentary results and reclaim their majority while also trying to rig the presidential vote to force a run-off with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa reacted angrily to the Zanu PF bribery allegations saying if anything Zanu PF was over-represented by CIO agents during the voting at all the polling stations. He said they already have credible information the regime is tampering with ballot papers at the KG 6 army barracks in an attempt to, ‘reverse the people’s will.’ He insisted Tsvangirai had won the poll by over 50 percent and poured scorn on the idea of a second round of voting. He ridiculed demands by Zanu PF for a recount saying, ‘its like having a student write an exam and then they demand a re-marking of their paper without knowing the result.’

Meanwhile Mugabe’s willingness to enter a run-off contradicts his pre-election talk. ‘We are not in the habit of boxing matches here. We knock each other out in the first round,’ he told journalists. A few days before he cast his vote the 84 year old declared, ‘We don't rig elections. I cannot sleep with my conscience if I have rigged.’ Mugabe is now singing a different tune.

Political commentator Brian Kagoro believes Zanu PF is buying time to absorb the extent of their defeat and in delaying the release of the results are engineering a ‘de facto’ extension to the 21 days required for a run-off to take place. He says in the event of a second round of voting the momentum is with the opposition, provided they reach out and form strategic alliances. Turning to South Africa’s stance on the crisis Kagoro believes the South African government is more shocked by the election result than Zanu PF itself. He accused Mbeki’s government of doing Mugabe’s public relations work for several years under the myth he was popular in the rural areas. He said the just ended election had shattered that myth.