SADC leaders urge rapid Zim poll results

SERENA CHAUDHRY
Correspondent | Tuesday April 15, 2008 00:00

Zambian Foreign Minister Kabinga Pande told reporters that the 13-hour summit in Lusaka had also called on President Robert Mugabe to ensure that a possible run-off vote against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is held 'in a secure environment'.

The 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) 'urged the electoral authorities in Zimbabwe that verification and release of results are expeditiously done in accordance with the due process of law,' said Pande. The summit ran almost 10 hours over schedule and ended at about 5am local time. A senior Zambian official said earlier the delay was caused by disagreement among leaders over whether the post-election impasse in Zimbabwe should be called a crisis.

But Pande, in response to questions, said: 'It is not a crisis at all.'
The regional leaders asked South African President Thabo Mbeki to continue his mission as chief mediator between Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) following recent disputed elections. 'The summit congratulated and thanked the SADC facilitator, President Mbeki, and his facilitation team for the role they had played in helping to contribute to the successful holding of election,' a joint statement said. '[The] summit requested President Mbeki to continue in his role as facilitator on Zimbabwe on the outstanding issue,' said the statement issued at the conclusion of the summit. Mbeki said after meeting Mugabe on Saturday en route to the summit that there was no crisis. Mugabe did not attend the summit.

Human rights organisations and the opposition have accused Mugabe of orchestrating a systematic campaign of violence in response to his ZANU-PF party's first defeat in a parliamentary election on March 29. No results have been released yet from the parallel presidential vote, but Tsvangirai's MDC says he won outright and that Mugabe's 28-year rule is over in Zimbabwe, where the economy has collapsed. ZANU-PF says neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai won the necessary absolute majority and a run-off will be necessary.

In Harare, an electoral official said 23 out of 210 constituencies in the election would be recounted next Saturday, raising new uncertainty over the vote and the possibility that ZANU-PF could overturn its defeat in the parliamentary poll.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) official in Harare, who asked not to be named, said there would be recounts of the votes for both presidential and parliamentary polls in constituencies where there had been allegations of poll abuse.

The MDC has a two-seat majority in the Lower House of Parliament after the election, but the combined opposition tally totals 12 more than ZANU-PF. The opposition has rejected both a recount and a run-off, accusing Mugabe of trying to rig his way out of defeat in the presidential election. The opposition and the West accuse Mugabe of wrecking the economy of his once-prosperous nation with hyperinflation estimated at more than 100 000 percent, shortages of food and fuel and 80 percent unemployment.
Pande, reading a summit communique, said SADC had urged both sides to accept the outcome of the elections.

But MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said: 'We have already said that we will not accept any recount because for us that is accepting rigged results. They had custody of the ballot boxes for two weeks and they must have stuffed them with their votes.'

Zimbabwe's High Court was due to rule on a MDC application to force the electoral commission to release the presidential outcome yesterday. Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, SADC's current chairperson, called the summit because of regional concern over the impasse. 'SADC can no longer continue to stand by and do nothing when one of its members is experiencing political and economic difficulties,' he said in his opening speech. Mbeki, who has consistently favoured a softer line with Mugabe, said the election process was proceeding normally. 'I wouldn't describe that as a crisis,' he told reporters after his meeting with Mugabe in Harare.

'We have to wait for ZEC to release [the results],' said Mbeki, echoing Mugabe's own stance on the unusually long delay. (Mail & Guardian)