Monday, April 14, 2008

Legal fight over election recount

From the BBC:

Zimbabwe's opposition says it will mount a legal challenge to the election commission's order for a ballot recount in last month's contested polls.

Votes from 23 constituencies will be recounted on Saturday, local media say.

A change in the parliamentary result by nine seats could see President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party regain its lost majority in the assembly....

Mr Mugabe declined an invitation to the summit of the 14-nation body, sending a delegation of ministers instead.

MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti described the summit outcome as a "major improvement".

Food queue in Harare, 11.04.08
Zimbabwe's ailing economy means food queues are common

But he called on Mr Mbeki to show "more vigour, more openness and a complete abandonment of the policy of quiet diplomacy".

According to results released so far, Zanu-PF has lost its majority in the House of Assembly for the first time since independence in 1980, winning 97 seats against the MDC's 99 in the 210-seat chamber. A smaller MDC faction has 10 seats.

In the Senate, or upper house, Zanu-PF and the combined opposition have 30 seats each.

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