MDC seeks High Court help to compel ZEC to announce results

MDC seeks High Court help to compel ZEC to announce results

COURT PETITION: MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa

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• Tsvangirai refuses to declare victory

• Tsvangirai MDC may turn to rival faction to break deadlock

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By Fikile Mapala

ZIMBABWE’S main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Thursday approached the High Court, seeking the immediate release of results from last Saturday’s presidential elections which the party claims were won by its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told New Zimbabwe.com the MDC had been forced to go to court after the failure by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to announce the presidential results five days after polling ended.

Chamisa said: “We have taken the matter to the High Court. On Tuesday, our lawyers wrote to the commission advising it of our wish to have the results announced immediately. This has not happened and the commission must explain why.”

MDC secretary general Tendai Biti said Tsvangirai had won 50.3% of the vote to President Robert Mugabe's 43.8%, so avoiding a run-off.

The ZEC has yet to release official results and Zanu PF spokesman Bright Matonga has revealed the party was already planning for a run-off – an acceptance that Mugabe has not won a majority, and perhaps an informed indication that Tsvangirai also fell short.

The ZEC has announced results from the weekend elections in drips. The final results for the House of Assembly, now dominated by the opposition, were only announced on Wednesday. The first results for the Upper House (Senate) came in on Thursday evening.

The MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai now has 99 seats in the 210-member House of Assembly while Zanu PF won 97 seats. The MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara clinched 10 seats with independent candidate Professor Jonathan Moyo retaining his Tsholotsho North seat.

Meanwhile, the ZEC warned some results for the Senate elections could be delayed due to logistical problems encountered during the transfer of results from remote rural outposts.

ZEC chief elections officer, Utoile Sailagwana, told journalists in Harare Thursday that the commission would not be able to announce the senatorial results as expected after facing a “number of problems”, hours before he announced the first 10 results shared equally between Zanu PF and Tsvangirai’s MDC.

Sailagwana gave the example of Binga in Matabeleland North Province which he said could only be accessed by helicopter.
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