Zim 'is on a razor's edge'
07/04/2008 07:07  - (SA)  

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Judge delays poll-result ruling Journalists turn to Zim court Zim results: No ruling yet New farm invasions in Zim Makoni holds balance of power Recounting Zim votes 'illegal' Mugabe wants election recount Senate split, run-off possible Zanu-PF 'preparing for war'

Zimbabwe Special Report  Latest Zimbabwe Stories

Harare - Zimbabwe on Monday anxiously awaited the outcome of a legal bid by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to force the declaration of poll results that could spell the end for President Robert Mugabe.

Tsvangirai, 56, has claimed outright victory in last week's presidential election but the ruling Zanu-PF says there is no clear winner and has backed 84-year-old Mugabe to win a sixth term in a second round run-off.

A lawyer for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has won control of parliament in simultaneous legislative elections, argued before the high court on Sunday that the outcome was already known.

"The results of the presidential poll were actually posted at polling stations at ward level," Alec Muchadehama told the court. "After the poll was held on March 29, results were actually available on March 30."

The electoral commission's lawyer however argued that the case was beyond the court's remit and Justice Tendai Uchena announced at the end of the hearing that a judgement would be made on Monday at 10:00.

Run-off 'a sham'

"A mooted presidential run-off ... is a sham," Tsvangirai wrote in a commentary in Monday's issue of the British newspaper The Guardian.

"Our country is on a razor's edge," he warned, calling on South Africa, Britain and the United States to step up pressure on Mugabe and his supporters to stand aside.

State media reported on Sunday that the ruling party had snubbed an approach from the MDC to form a unity government and was now demanding a complete recount of the presidential vote after detecting irregularities.

Zanu-PF is also contesting enough seats to regain control of the parliament.

Mugabe - who has ruled for 28 years since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980 - chaired a meeting of the Zanu-PF's politburo on Friday and was endorsed to compete in a run-off if neither of the two main contenders wins more than 50% of the presidential vote.

War veterans

Meanwhile the war veterans, hardline Mugabe supporters who led the sometimes violent farm invasions at the start of the decade, tried to move onto several of the few remaining white-owned farms but most were later repelled by police.

While the election aftermath has so far been largely peaceful, the farm invasions served as a reminder of the violence which followed Mugabe's last electoral reverse when he lost a referendum on presidential powers in 2000.

- AFP

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