Zimbabwe court to hear election results request      
   Mark Tran and agencies   
   guardian.co.uk,   
   Tuesday April 8 2008   
   Article history
        About this articleClose 
  This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Tuesday April 08 2008. It was last updated at 12:35 on April 08 2008.


     Morgan Tsvangirai at a press conference in Harare. Photograph: Alexander Joe/ AFP

  Zimbabwe's highest court today ruled in favour of hearing an opposition request for the release of presidential election results.
  Ending four days of suspense since the request was first lodged, Judge Tendai Uchena said: "I find that the application is urgent. The case should now proceed." 
  The judge then began to hear arguments from lawyers for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and the Zimbabwe electoral commission, which opposed the application.
  The decision represents a victory of sorts for the MDC, which went to the high court to force the hands of the Zimbabwe's electoral officials. 
  Although parliamentary election results have been published, there has been no word on the presidential vote – held on March 29 - which the MDC claims was won by its candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai.
  The long delay has been criticised by the opposition and the international community amid fears that Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party was seeking to massage the results in its favour.
  Today's ruling went in the MDC's favour, but the case could drag on for days. 
  The opposition party says Tsvangirai won the election outright, making a run-off vote unnecessary, but is bracing itself for a second round after Zanu-PF hardliners persuaded Mugabe to fight on to retain power. 
  Tsvangirai travelled to South Africa yesterday, meeting the head of the ruling African National Congress party, Jacob Zuma, to appeal for greater pressure to be put on Mugabe.
  Zuma is the frontrunner to succeed the president, Thabo Mbeki, in 2009. He has gradually expanded his power and influence since ousting Mbeki as the ANC leader in December. 
  Tsvangirai's trip led to reports that Zuma might take a harder line than Mbeki, who has been criticised for being too soft on Mugabe. 
  "Zuma is likely to take a more tough line on Robert Mugabe, although he has to walk a delicate balance so as to not upstage President Mbeki's efforts," the South African Business Day newspaper quoted a senior ANC member as saying. 
  "But given the tone of the NEC [national executive committee] discussions, Zuma could well rebuke Mugabe publicly, which will be a massive departure from our previous stance." 
  In another legal case complicating Zimbabwe's political stalemate, police said seven poll officials were due to appear in court charged with undercounting votes cast for Mugabe. 
  Tensions lessened in the countryside after state media said police had ordered self-styled independence war veterans off white farms they had invaded in the southern Masvingo province. 
  The veterans - used as political shock troops by Mugabe - last week warned that they would invade all remaining white-owned farms after the government said white farmers were preparing to grab back farms seized during the land reforms of 2000. 
  They led a wave of violent occupations of white farms that accelerated Zimbabwe's economic decline.


¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤