By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's High Court was expected torule on Monday on an opposition appeal to force electionofficials to release results of a presidential ballot that hasraised fears of a military crackdown.
The ruling ZANU-PF party says neither President RobertMugabe nor his rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the necessaryabsolute majority and a run-off will be necessary.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says itwon both the presidential and parliamentary elections. Itaccuses Mugabe of rolling out military forces across Zimbabweto try to extend his 28-year rule in a de facto coup.
The two-week delay in releasing the presidential resultsfrom the March 29 election has heightened tension in thesouthern African nation, whose economy has collapsed.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has ordered recounts in23 constituencies, raising the possibility ZANU-PF couldoverturn its defeat in the parliamentary poll held on the sameday.
MDC lawyer Selby Hwacha accused the ZEC of calling therecount to help ZANU-PF rig the poll and said the MDC wouldlaunch a legal challenge on Tuesday -- possibly prolonging thedeadlock.
The government tried on Sunday to ease concerns themilitary might intervene to try to keep Mugabe in power.
"The soldiers are in the barracks where they belong becausethe country does not fully require their services in such apeaceful environment," the Sunday Mail quoted InformationMinister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu as saying.
"I believe everyone in the country is aware that there isno military junta."
Zimbabwe's generals occupy no official posts in its rulingparty, but the heads of the army and security forces arethought to have been key planners in an emerging strategy forMugabe, 84, to fight back after elections handed him hisbiggest defeat since taking power.
Tsvangirai, who says he is a prime target of governmentsecurity and military forces, has said widespread violencecould erupt unless other African states intervened.
Human rights organisations and the opposition say Mugabehas unleashed a campaign of systematic violence in response toZANU-PF's first electoral defeat.
The MDC has called for an indefinite general strike onTuesday to put pressure on Mugabe and push for poll results tobe released.
But the veteran leader keeps digging in. He snubbed aregional weekend summit in Lusaka that called for the rapidverification and release of results and urged Mugabe to ensureany run-off would be held "in a secure environment".
Zimbabweans had hoped the poll would bring relief from adeepening economic crisis. A quarter of the population havefled to escape hyper-inflation of more than 100,000 percent,chronic shortages of food and fuel and 80 percent unemployment.
(Additional reporting by Shapi Shacinda Shapi and SerenaChaudhry in Lusaka, and Cris Chinaka, Nelson Banya, StellaMapenzauswa, and Muchena Zigomo; Writing by Michael Georgy;Editing by Alison Williams)
