High Court dismisses MDC poll results demand

High Court dismisses MDC poll results demand

• High Court orders ZEC to abandon recount

• MDC says Tsvangirai will not stand in run-off

• Zambia calls emergency SADC summit

• Makoni demands results, seeks Mugabe talks

• Judge to rule Mondaay on poll result delay

• MDC, white farmers 'playing with lion's tail'

• Tsvangirai floats power-sharing compromise

• ZEC says 'dangerous' to issue presidential poll result

• Mugabe wants poll re-run, results may never be known

• 5 ZEC officials 'tampered with Mugabe's votes'

• High Court rules MDC petition on results 'urgent'

• Zimbabwe has 'hung parliament and hung presidency'

• MDC reluctant to take part in run-off

• MDC lawyers barred from High Court by police

• Zanu PF claims MDC bribed ZEC officials

• MDC seeks court help to force results

• SENATE ELECTION RESULTS

• HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY ELECTION RESULTS

ZIMBABWE'S High Court on Monday refused to order the immediate release of delayed results from a March 29 presidential election, in a major blow to the opposition MDC.

Rejecting a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) application to force the electoral commission to release the result, Judge Tendai Uchena said: “I dismiss the case with costs.”

"It's a very sad day in Zimbabwe," MDC lawyer Andrew Makoni said. "(The court) has given the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission a blank check. We don't know when the ZEC will be ready with results. We don't know what specific time would be reasonable in the eyes of the court."

The MDC says its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, defeated President Robert Mugabe in the vote, ending his 28-year rule.

The MDC went to the High Court after a long delay in issuing the result by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

The opposition says Mugabe is holding back the presidential result to allow him time to prepare a violent response to his biggest electoral setback, when the ruling Zanu PF party lost control of parliament in a parallel vote on March 29.

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told Reuters: “Naturally we are very disappointed because I think we have a very strong case. We are going to decide the way forward after meeting our lawyers, but in our view the release of those results is very, very urgent.”

Southern African leaders said after a summit in Lusaka at the weekend that the election result should be released ”expeditiously”.

Further delays are expected because of legal manoeuvres and a recount of 23 constituencies ordered by the ZEC.

The ruling Zanu PF party says neither Tsvangirai nor Mugabe won the necessary absolute majority in the presidential vote and a run-off will be necessary.

The delays have stoked tension in the southern African nation.

The MDC and international human rights organisations say Mugabe has unleashed militias in a campaign of violence around the country to intimidate opposition supporters ahead of a runoff.

The MDC says hundreds of villagers have been forced out of their homes by militia attacks and at least 50 needed medical treatment. - Reuters/AP
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