Mugabe defiant as poll battle goes to court
Zimbabwe charges two foreign journalists
Lawyers representing Morgan Tsvangirai%26#39;s Movement for Democratic Change will ask a high court in Harare for an order compelling election officials to issue the results immediately, ending a delay that has raised suspicions of a tainted vote.
The MDC claims Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe and should be declared president of the economically devastated African nation, but independent observers say the MDC leader did not win an outright majority and faces a run-off against Mugabe.
The court case will begin overnight according to MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa.
%26quot;We want an urgent release of the results, within four hours of the court order,%26quot; he said. %26quot;We%26#39;re fighting the anxiety, disappointment, speculation and rumours as a result of this delay.%26quot;
Senior officials of Mugabe%26#39;s ruling ZANU-PF party said on Friday that they would back the 84-year-old veteran in the second round of voting, ending speculation earlier in the week that they might ask him to step down.
ZANU-PF said it would challenge some of the results of the parliamentary election, which showed it lost control of the lower house. Preliminary results from the upper chamber show Mugabe%26#39;s party ahead by three seats.
The government-run Herald newspaper reported on Saturday that a provincial elections officer had been arrested in Zimbabwe%26#39;s Midlands over charges that some polling stations under him had inflated vote tallies for the MDC and recorded lower votes for Mugabe and parliamentary ZANU-PF candidates.
%26quot;ZANU-PF in the province say they are checking every ward as they suspect a wider conspiracy,%26quot; it said.
Mugabe%26#39;s officials said on Friday his party would go to court over what it alleged was bribery of electoral officials in some places, but was already preparing for a run-off.
It is not clear when the run-off would occur. Zimbabwean law requires that it be held within three weeks, but the ruling party hinted on Friday that the timing might be changed.
The hardening of the ruling party%26#39;s position has punctured the guarded optimism that had emerged among the opposition and Mugabe%26#39;s critics in the West, who hoped the ex-liberation war fighter would concede defeat.
The MDC said in advertisements placed in South African newspapers on Saturday that it wanted peace.
%26quot;At this stage we offer the hand of peace to the current regime, and will recognise and respect their rights if the transition is expedited without further ado, but this offer will not remain open indefinitely,%26quot; the MDC said.
Former colonial ruler Britain and the United States, both of whom have applied sanctions on Mugabe and his top officials, have criticised the election delay and suggested it could be the precursor to a rigged result.
Mugabe%26#39;s government is widely accused in the West of stealing previous presidential and parliamentary elections, and his removal is seen by Washington and London as necessary to rebuilding Zimbabwe%26#39;s shattered economy.
Zimbabweans are struggling with the world%26#39;s highest inflation of more than 100,000 percent, mass unemployment and chronic shortages of meat, bread, fuel and other basic goods.
Worries that tensions could explode rose on Friday when liberation war veterans, a pro-Mugabe group that has in the past intimidated government opponents and violently occupied white-owned farms, attacked the MDC for claiming victory.
%26quot;These are all provocations against us freedom fighters,%26quot; veterans%26#39; leader Jabulani Sibanda told a news conference.
He said the veterans would repel any attempt by white farmers to reclaim properties seized by Mugabe. %26quot;It now looks like these elections were a way to open for the re-invasion of this country (by the British),%26quot; he said.
The farm seizures, part of a government policy of redistributing land to poor blacks, are often blamed for the devastation of Zimbabwe%26#39;s farm sector.
Food output has fallen sharply since the seizures began in 2000 and Zimbabwe, once an exporter, now relies on food imports and handouts to feed its people.
