Go to Original
Zimbabwe High Court Takes Up Election Results
By Nelson Banya
Reuters
Wednesday 09 April 2008
Harare - Zimbabwe's High Court ruled on Tuesday it would treat the opposition's
application for the immediate release of last month's presidential election
results urgently and began hearing arguments in the case.
Legal proceedings are already in their fourth day and could drag further, delaying
the end of a 10-day stalemate that has dashed hopes of a quick answer as to
whether President Robert Mugabe lost the March 29 vote or will face a runoff.
The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, says he has won the election outright
and should be declared president. But Mr. Mugabe's party is pushing for
a further delay in issuing results pending a recount.
"I find that the application is urgent," judge Tendai Uchena said
of the opposition request. "The case should now proceed."
Zimbabweans, many reduced to misery by the meltdown of their once-prosperous
economy, are waiting to see whether the election will end Mr. Mugabe's
28-year-rule or make way for a re-run between him and Mr. Tsvangirai.
Mr. Tsvangirai accuses 84-year-old Mugabe of planning violence to overturn
results of the presidential and parliamentary votes. Long legal delays could
also give Mr. Mugabe more time to organize a campaign of intimidation in order
to win a runoff.
Complicating the election stalemate, the police said seven poll officials around
the country were due to appear in court after being accused of undercounting
the votes cast for Mr. Mugabe.
An independent projection of results posted at individual polling stations
showed that although Mr. Tsvangirai defeated Mr. Mugabe in the presidential
vote, he failed to win a majority and would be forced into a runoff. Electoral
rules say this must be held three weeks after the release of results.
Tensions in the nation have been running high since the election, and the Commercial
Farmers' Union said that at least 60 farmers have been forced off their
land in recent days by veterans of the nation's fight for independence
in the 1970s, Agence France-Presse reported.
But tensions reduced a little in the countryside after state-controlled news
outlets said that the police had ordered the war veterans, who are loyal to
Mr. Mugabe, to leave the white farms they had invaded in southern Masvingo province.
The veterans, used as political shock troops by Mr. Mugabe, warned last week
they would invade all remaining white-owned farms after reports that white farmers
were preparing to grab back farms seized under Mugabe's land reforms.
The veterans led a wave of violent occupations of white farms as part of a land
redistribution program that began in 2000. Mr. Mugabe's critics say the
reforms played a big part in ruining the economy. He blames Western sanctions.
Zimbabwe has inflation of more than 100,000 percent - the highest in
the world - an unemployment rate above 80 percent and chronic shortages
of food and fuel. Millions have fled abroad, most of them to South Africa.
-------
Jump to today's Truthout Features:
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. t r u t h o u t has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is t r u t h o u t endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
"Go to Original" links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted on TO may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the "Go to Original" links.
Print This Story
E-mail This Story