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MDC: No reason for more delays
08/04/2008 15:02 - (SA)
Harare - Lawyers for Zimbabwe's opposition told the high court on Tuesday there was no reason to further delay presidential election results after a judge agreed to hear their case as a matter of urgency.
After persuading Justice Tendai Uchena that their demand for the immediate release of results should be considered forthwith, the Movement for Democratic Change's chief counsel argued that any further hold-up was unreasonable.
"There is nothing preventing them (the electoral commission) from announcing the results, which they must announce but which results they have not announced," MDC lawyer Alec Muchadehama told the court in Harare.
He said: "The time it has taken for the results to be announced, (shows) the respondents have failed to act within a reasonable time.
"Even if there is no specific provision in the electoral act providing a time period within which the presidential poll ought to have been announced, I submit that the totality of the circumstances of the case is that the respondents have failed to act within a reasonable time."
The electoral commission, which had refused to give any word on the outcome of the March 29 ballot, had hoped Uchena would decide either the MDC's demand was beyond his jurisdiction or it should not be considered on an urgent basis.
However, Uchena told the court on Tuesday that he would consider the application as urgent and ordered both sides' legal teams to attend a full hearing court in the afternoon.
- AFP
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