Zimbabwe High Court To Rule Monday on Petition for Presidential Results
By VOA News
06 April 2008
Zimbabwe's High Court says it will rule Monday on a request to order the immediate release of results from the March 29 presidential election.
A High Court judge made the announcement after a hearing Sunday that was prompted by a petition from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
Zimbabwe's electoral commission has yet to release any results from the presidential vote eight day ago. The delay has raised concerns that the government of President Robert Mugabe is trying to rig the outcome.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he defeated President Mugabe in the contest. Independent observers agree, but say Mr. Tsvangirai did not win the majority needed to avoid a runoff.
Earlier today, state media said the ruling ZANU-PF party has requested a recount of the presidential vote. A spokesman for the opposition says it is ridiculous to ask for a recount when no results have been released.
In another development, farmers in Zimbabwe's Masvingo province say hardline ZANU-PF supporters have invaded several of the country's few remaining white-owned farms.
Mugabe supporters seized hundreds of white-owned farms earlier this decade, in what the government called an effort to address colonial-era imbalances in land ownership. Critics say the seizures triggered a fall in food production and the beginning of ZImbabwe's economic crisis.
President Mugabe, who is 84, has ruled Zimbabwe since it gained independence from Britain in 1980. Supporters hail him as a hero of the independence movement, but critics accuse him of human rights abuses, and say his policies have ruined Zimbabwe's economy.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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