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M. Continuo

Zimbabwe commission to recount election votes


    By Cris Chinaka

    HARARE (Reuters) - The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission willrecount votes cast in the country's March 29 election nextSaturday, a state newspaper reported on Sunday.

    The Sunday Mail quoted Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)chairman Justice George Chiweshe as saying the ballots would becounted again in the presence of party representatives,candidates and election observers.

    "All votes that were cast in the presidential, House ofAssembly, Senate and council elections will be recounted onSaturday this week," said Chiweshe.

    But the newspaper referred specifically to 23constituencies and it was not clear from the article whetherall or only some of the results would be recounted. Electoralofficials were not immediately available for comment.

    The bombshell announcement came as regional leaders met inZambia to discuss a two-week delay in releasing results of thepresidential election that has raised fears of violence.

    The recount could overturn the already announced victory bythe opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in theparliamentary vote.

    The MDC says its leader Morgan Tsvangirai also won thepresidential vote according to tallies taken from resultsposted at polling stations, and that the 28-year rule ofPresident Robert Mugabe is over.

    The recount was likely to increase tension in Zimbabwe overthe delay, as the MDC has accused Mugabe of trying tointimidate its supporters with a systematic campaign ofviolence by his militias.

    MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told Reuters: "We have alreadysaid that we will not accept any recount because for us that isaccepting rigged results. They had custody of the ballot boxesfor two weeks and they must have stuffed them with theirvotes."

    Zimbabwe's High Court was due to rule on Monday on a MDCapplication to force the electoral commission to release thepresidential result.

    A summit of the 14-nation Southern African DevelopmentCommunity (SADC) in neighbouring Zambia overran by severalhours into the early hours of Sunday.

    A Zambian official, who asked not to be named, told Reutersthe delay was caused by a disagreement over the finalcommunique.

    "The delay to conclude the meeting has been caused by adisagreement on how the final communique should be phrased.Some leaders feel that including the word crisis would beinappropriate while others say the extraordinary (summit) initself shows there is a crisis in Zimbabwe," he said.

    (Additional reporting by Serena Chaudry and Shapi Shacindain Lusaka, MacDonald Dzirutwe, Nelson Banya, StellaMapenzauswa, Muchena Zigomo in Harare and Sue Thomas inJohannesburg; Writing by Barry Moody; Editing by Marius Boschand Tim Pearce)