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Victory confirmed, says MDC
26/04/2008 14:27 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said on Saturday it had retained a historic victory over President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party following a partial recount of ballots.
"The news we're getting is that the election result of March 29 has been confirmed. What we hear is that nothing has changed in all the constituencies," MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa told AFP.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission could not confirm the results, saying the recount had only been completed in 14 of the 23 constituencies that were under the microscope and that the results would be announced in due course.
Zimbabwe's main state newspaper, The Herald, reported on Saturday that 10 of the recounts had been completed and that the MDC had retained six parliamentary seats while Zanu-PF had retained four.
That left the official result of the vote still up in the air amid opposition accusations that the authorities were planning to rig the result and unleashing a campaign of violence to intimidate opposition supporters.
According to initial results, Zanu-PF lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980 but a partial recount was ordered following allegations of vote fraud by the opposition.
The result of a presidential election held at the same time as the parliamentary vote has not yet been announced four weeks after the polls, but the MDC says its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won an outright victory - a claim echoed by US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer.
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Zimbabwe Special Report
