ZIMBABWE: Opposition mulls court challenge to poll result as protests break out

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

HARARE, 4 Apr 2005 (IRIN) - The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is collecting evidence of alleged irregularities during Zimbabwe's recent legislative poll for a possible petition to the Electoral Court.

Meanwhile, more than 400 opposition supporters took to the streets of the capital, Harare, on Monday to protest the alleged rigging of the 31 March election.

The demonstration erupted after it emerged that the figures announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for the number of people who voted in some constituencies did not tally with the total of votes for the candidates. The protest lasted about half an hour and caught the police by surprise.

Although MDC officials were not aware of any arrests, sources said about 10 youths wearing MDC T-shirts were detained.

MDC secretary for information and publicity Paul Themba Nyathi told IRIN that although he was unaware of the protest, "it would not surprise me because there is a lot of anger out there". He said MDC officials were "locked in a meeting" on Monday to consider all possible avenues, including an Electoral Court challenge to the poll results.

"Our people are working flat-out on collecting all anomalies and irregularities [in Thursday's elections] ... and when that is completed and handed to the national executive committee, a decision will be taken," Nyathi said. "We realise the importance of doing this in a [timeous] manner."

The MDC claims it should have won 94 out of the 120 seats contested, as opposed to the 41 announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

According to the ZEC, the ruling ZANU-PF party won 78 seats, gaining a two-thirds majority because President Robert Mugabe is entitled to appoint a further 30 MPs to the 150-seat parliament.

Nyathi listed a host of alleged irregularities in the conduct of the poll, chief among them the discrepancies between "figures that were announced by the ZEC and the final tallies of [ballots cast] in constituencies".

"In most instances the ZEC would announce that in constituency X, 23,000 people voted at the close of polling, but when the final figures were tallied it was less than those announced by the ZEC," Nyathi explained.

"We also had a number of people whose names appeared on the voters' roll, who were subsequently told they could not vote [on polling day] as they had already voted. Our suspicion is: if someone has not been inked and you say they've voted, then there must have been a fraudulent postal vote," Nyathi added.

He alleged that fraud and intimidation had been widespread during the election period, and food was used as a political weapon "in the most crude and brazen manner".

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Observer Mission said in a statement that it believed the elections were "peaceful and credible". However, the mission expressed concern about "the number of people who were turned away from polling stations - it is still not clear to us exactly how many people were affected in this way, as well as the reason for them not being able to cast their vote".

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) also noted counting discrepancies in its statement on the conduct of the poll.

ZESN said in one constituency, "won by ZANU-PF, for example, the number of votes announced by ZEC, at 2 a.m. on 1 April 2005, to have been cast by close of polling had suddenly gone up by 62 percent from 15,611 to 25,360 when the final results were announced," ZESN pointed out.

"Another glaring example pertains to Manyame Constituency where, according to ZEC, 14,812 had cast their ballots at the close of polling, but the figure catapulted by 72 percent to 23,760 as the results were announced. In Highfield, which was won by the MDC, the total number of ballots cast does not tally with the number of votes cast for the contesting candidates.

"ZESN, therefore, urges ZEC to seriously look into these discrepancies as a matter of extreme urgency, as this has serious implications for the credibility of the electoral process," the NGO said.

The head of the African Union Observer Team, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, said the allegations of rigging should be investigated immediately.

"The MDC has alleged that there are serious discrepancies in the official results released by the ZEC for several constituencies. It is hoped that both the ZEC and the ESC [Electoral Supervisory Commission] will promptly look into the allegations, with a view to assuring Zimbabweans of the authenticity of the results of the elections," Afari-Gyan told IRIN.

Attempts to get government comment were unsuccessful.

[ENDS]