Partial vote recount underway, delays warning

Partial vote recount underway, delays warning

VIGIL: A police officer keeps guard as ballot boxes are checked before the recount began Saturday

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• High Court orders ZEC to abandon recount

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• SENATE ELECTION RESULTS

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A PARTIAL vote recount from Zimbabwe’s March 29 general elections was in full swing on Monday, three days after it began amid controversy. Election officials warned it could go beyond the three days initially envisaged.

"Initially we had said it would take three days to complete the exercise but since we had delays we may be going above the three days," Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) deputy chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana said on Sunday.

"It is not a small exercise and we want to ensure that there are no mistakes this time around," he said.

He said that the recount was going smoothly but was likely to run on following delays at some polling stations on the first day, Saturday.

"Everything is going on well so far. We have had no complaints from either parties," the ruling Zanu PF and opposition MDC, Silaigwana said.

"We had delays when we started because in some cases the initial consultations took long but the process eventually started. In some cases the starting was delayed by the late arrival of polling agents," he added.

But MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa on Sunday alleged "criminality" in the vote-counting, accusing President Robert Mugabe's regime of "playing games with the people."

"More than ever before, we are convinced that this regime is playing games with the people," Chamisa told AFP.

"We have information that in some cases ballot boxes were not properly sealed. This is just a circus and we are not going to endorse such a flawed and criminal process," he said.

"The level of criminality has shown that ZEC is just an extension of Zanu PF", he said.

The MDC has accused President Robert Mugabe and his party of trying to rig their way back to power.

The recounts in 23 of the 210 constituencies came amid rising tension and accusations of violence, with a leading human rights group charging that Mugabe followers were now rounding up opposition supporters and assaulting them in torture camps.

Initial results gave the opposition MDC control of parliament in the March 29 polls but the recount could end up with Mugabe's Zanu PF party regaining its majority.

There was still no word on Monday on the outcome of a simultaneous presidential ballot although MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has claimed victory, which if true would spell the end of Mugabe's 28 years at the helm.

ZEC chairman George Chiweshe ordered the recount after Zanu PF complained about a string of irregularities in the constituencies.

After the opposition failed in a legal bid Friday to halt the process, ZEC officials began recounting on Saturday morning in each of the constituencies in the presence of party agents and foreign election monitors.

Tsvangirai’s MDC, which was declared to have taken 99 seats against 97 for Zanu PF, has long regarded the nominally independent ZEC as a pro-government body and sees the recount as a ploy to steal back control of parliament. - AFP
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