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Pohamba: Zim vote not rigged
13/04/2008 16:40 - (SA)
Windhoek - Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba on Sunday rejected allegations by Zimbabwe's opposition that President Robert Mugabe was trying to rig the outcome of recent elections, saying he was satisfied that the law was being upheld.
"There has been the impression that the government of Zimbabwe is tampering with the result. It is not true," Pohamba said on his return from an emergency Southern African Development Community summit in Zambia on the election stand-off in Zimbabwe.
"Neither the government, the ruling party or the opposition," had tampered with the outcome of the March 29 polls, Pohamba said.
The only issue was ZEC's more than two-week delay in announcing the presidential results, he said.
The one-day SADC summit ended early on Sunday with a call for ZEC to release the presidential results "expeditiously". High Court ruling
The High Court in Harare is due to issue its finding on Monday on an urgent application by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) for an order forcing ZEC to release the results.
"Let's now ask the electoral commission that, immediately after the pronouncement of the court, they should then announce the result in accordance with the Zimbabwean law on the election," Pohamba said in a statement on his return to Windhoek.
Pohamba said SADC heads of state had been satisfied with explanations provided about the arrest of several ZEC officials over allegations by Mugabe's Zanu-PF party they had deliberately underestimated his tally.
Pohamba said the arrests followed discrepancies in the vote count discovered by both Zanu-PF and the MDC and their requests for verification.
"So we have left Lusaka very much happy, convinced that the due course of law has been followed," Pohamba said. - Sapa-dpa
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