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ZEC accepts vote recount
10/04/2008 10:50 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's election commission has accepted the recount of five of the country's election districts, South African radio quoted Zimbabwe Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa as saying.
The Zanu-PF party of President Robert Mugabe had been demanding a recount of the March 29 presidential vote and had challenged the party's defeat in elections to the 210-seat House of Assembly (lower house of parliament), claiming the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) bribed voters.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had pre-emptively claimed outright victory in the presidential elections - a claim Mugabe's party rejected as "wishful thinking".
Tsvangirai hinted Wednesday he was open to forming a unity government with elements of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, which was defeated by Tsvangirai's MDC party in elections to the lower house of parliament.
Tsvangirai 'takes 50.3% of vote'
Although official results of the presidential election had not been released, the Mugabe government rejected forming a government of national unity, saying only election results could direct the formation of government.
The High Court in Harare on Wednesday deferred until Monday a decision in the MDC's urgent application for a court order forcing the state-controlled Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to release the presidential results.
Tsvangirai said he took 50.3% of the vote, but a non-profit election observation organisation estimated that, based on a sample of the results, neither he nor Mugabe took more than the 50% plus one vote needed to avert a second round.
On Wednesday, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa in his capacity as current chairperson of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community called for an emergency meeting of southern African leaders to be held on Saturday to discuss ways of resolving the post-election impasse in Zimbabwe.
Sapa-dpa
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