High court postpones hearing on vote recount

By Tichaona Sibanda
15 April 2008

A high court judge on Tuesday postponed by a day a hearing on the MDC’s application to block a recount of votes cast in 23 constituencies during last month’s elections. Zanu-PF wants a recount in all four elections - presidential, parliamentary, senatorial and council.

Reports from Harare said Judge Antonia Guvava deferred the application to Wednesday, saying she will then rule on whether the MDC’s legal team will be permitted to file supplementary evidence or whether the case should be dismissed.

The MDC contends that the country’s amended electoral law Act is clear that any aggrieved party can only contest an outcome within 48 hours of the election. Zanu-PF lodged their request for a parliamentary recount almost four days after the final results were made public. Results for the presidential race have not yet been released.

But as far as the parliamentary poll is concerned, the MDC’s secretary for parliamentary and legal affairs Innocent Gonese, told us that the long time it took Zanu-PF to request a recount meant it was now illegal for any court to deal with the issue.