Zimbabwe candidates to vet presidential poll result
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE, April 28 (Reuters) - Candidates will begin verifying the delayed results of Zimbabwe's disputed presidential poll as soon as Monday, election officials said, paving the way for their release more than four weeks after the vote.
President Robert Mugabe has come under growing pressure to publish the results after a partial recount confirmed his ZANU-PF party lost control of parliament for the first time since independence in 1980 in the March 29 vote.
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he has won the presidency outright and accuses Mugabe of using the delay to rig victory in a run-off.
Critics including the United States and rights groups have blamed Mugabe for violence against opposition supporters since the election and have urged him to let the results be published.
But the process of announcing the presidential outcome is unlikely to be swift. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) hopes to complete a partial recount on Monday, and will then invite candidates to compare their own vote tallies with those of the commission, as the law states.
That could take a couple of days, ZEC deputy chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana said on Sunday.
"We are expecting the recounting to end tomorrow (Monday). When the recounting ends then we will immediately start the verification of the presidential vote," he told Reuters.
"So what I am saying is that the end of the recount will kickstart that verification. It may be Tuesday or any other day. The chief elections officer will then write to the candidates inviting them to the verification process."
If the candidates dispute the figures, there would be a further delay.
"Obviously there will be a lot of debate about figures which will delay the announcement of the results. That is what ZANU-PF want and in the meantime they continue with their reign of terror. The question is what was ZEC doing with those figures all this time?" said MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa.
During the verification process, candidates, their proxies and observers will compare ZEC figures with those they have compiled themselves from polling stations.
Only after all parties agree with the figures can the ZEC announce a final result.
If a candidate wins more than 50 percent, he is declared winner. If no one has a majority, the ZEC will announce the final result and call a run-off within the following 21 days.
A run-off is expected, and pressure has risen on Mugabe, 84, after a recount confirmed his party had lost control of parliament.
Zimbabwe faces severe shortages of basic goods and 165,000 percent inflation, but parliament has been little more than a rubber-stamp for Mugabe's policies. If he remains president, the loss of parliament would make governing more difficult because he would need opposition support to pass legislation.
The MDC has wavered on whether to participate in a run-off. Tsvangirai has said he would not accept it, and also that he would contest it if it was supervised by the United Nations. (Additional reporting by Chris Chinaka; Writing by Caroline Drees; Editing by Giles Elgood) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/)
HARARE, April 28 (Reuters) - Candidates will begin verifying the delayed results of Zimbabwe's disputed presidential poll as soon as Monday, election officials said, paving the way for their release more than four weeks after the vote.
President Robert Mugabe has come under growing pressure to publish the results after a partial recount confirmed his ZANU-PF party lost control of parliament for the first time since independence in 1980 in the March 29 vote.
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he has won the presidency outright and accuses Mugabe of using the delay to rig victory in a run-off.
Critics including the United States and rights groups have blamed Mugabe for violence against opposition supporters since the election and have urged him to let the results be published.
But the process of announcing the presidential outcome is unlikely to be swift. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) hopes to complete a partial recount on Monday, and will then invite candidates to compare their own vote tallies with those of the commission, as the law states.
That could take a couple of days, ZEC deputy chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana said on Sunday.
"We are expecting the recounting to end tomorrow (Monday). When the recounting ends then we will immediately start the verification of the presidential vote," he told Reuters.
"So what I am saying is that the end of the recount will kickstart that verification. It may be Tuesday or any other day. The chief elections officer will then write to the candidates inviting them to the verification process."
If the candidates dispute the figures, there would be a further delay.
"Obviously there will be a lot of debate about figures which will delay the announcement of the results. That is what ZANU-PF want and in the meantime they continue with their reign of terror. The question is what was ZEC doing with those figures all this time?" said MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa.
During the verification process, candidates, their proxies and observers will compare ZEC figures with those they have compiled themselves from polling stations.
Only after all parties agree with the figures can the ZEC announce a final result.
If a candidate wins more than 50 percent, he is declared winner. If no one has a majority, the ZEC will announce the final result and call a run-off within the following 21 days.
A run-off is expected, and pressure has risen on Mugabe, 84, after a recount confirmed his party had lost control of parliament.
Zimbabwe faces severe shortages of basic goods and 165,000 percent inflation, but parliament has been little more than a rubber-stamp for Mugabe's policies. If he remains president, the loss of parliament would make governing more difficult because he would need opposition support to pass legislation.
The MDC has wavered on whether to participate in a run-off. Tsvangirai has said he would not accept it, and also that he would contest it if it was supervised by the United Nations. (Additional reporting by Chris Chinaka; Writing by Caroline Drees; Editing by Giles Elgood) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/)
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