ZEC promises presidential poll result this weekend

ZEC promises presidential poll result this weekend

• MDC retains Zaka West seat after recount

• Zvinavashe concedes after recount

• Zanu PF retains Goromonzi West in first recount result

• Partial recount begins, delays warning

• Dabengwa calls for 'transitional government'

• Recount goes ahead as judge rejects MDC petition

• MDC challenges 60 House of Assembly results

• Few options for MDC in poll stalemate

• High Court dismisses MDC poll results demand

• High Court orders ZEC to abandon recount

• MDC says Tsvangirai will not stand in run-off

• SENATE ELECTION RESULTS

• HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY ELECTION RESULTS

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

RESULTS of Zimbabwe's presidential and parliamentary elections should be announced this weekend, four weeks after votes were cast, the country's election commission said Wednesday.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change deprived President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party of its majority in parliament on March 29 but there has also been a delay to a partial recount of votes from the presidential poll.

The delay has raised fears that Mugabe, who has been in office for 28 years, is taking underhanded steps to cling to power. "There is no problem," George Chiweshe, chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, told CNN. "It is a tedious process."

A pro-Mugabe academic suggested that regional countries should mediate in negotiations for a transitional government of national unity led by Mugabe to organise new elections. The opinion piece, written for the state-owned Herald newspaper, said political tensions made it impossible to hold a run-off, which is opposed by the MDC.

Tsvangirai has appealed to neighbouring countries and foreign powers to intervene to guarantee a democratic poll result and prevent widespread violence.

There are signs of growing regional impatience with Mugabe from neighbours who have refused to take a hard line with the former liberation hero, despite an economic crisis that has brought millions of Zimbabweans to their knees.

Maritime African states refused to allow a Chinese ship carrying arms to landlocked Zimbabwe to unload, an unprecedented action against Mugabe by Zimbabwe's long-passive neighbours. The action indicated a tougher response by the region, which has been criticised, particularly by Britain and the US, for not doing more to end a three-week delay in issuing poll results.

In his toughest comments yet, South Africa's ruling party leader, Jacob Zuma, said: "I imagine that the leaders in Africa should really move in to unlock this logjam."

The opinion piece in The Herald, seen as a barometer of the official mood, said a transitional government should seek the help of neighbours and foreign powers to write a new constitution adopted after a referendum.

"It stands to reason that the transitional government of national unity, negotiated by the two leading contending parties … should be led by the incumbent President," the academic Obediah Mukura Mazombwe said.

Tsvangirai has called on African leaders to acknowledge that he won the vote, saying Mr Mugabe would be allowed an honourable exit. - Reuters
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