ZIMBABWE: MDC issues ultimatum over poll 'irregularities'

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

HARARE, 6 Apr 2005 (IRIN) - The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has given the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) 24 hours to explain discrepancies in the final tally of votes cast in the parliamentary elections, which saw the ruling ZANU-PF win a two-thirds majority.

MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube said if that did not happen, they would take their case to the Electoral Court. The MDC made electoral petitions after the 2000 elections, but since the Electoral Court had not yet been established, these cases were subject to normal court proceedings and were only finalised just before last week's elections.

Otto Saki, a human rights lawyer, said the Electoral Court was compelled by law to finalise all electoral disputes within six months.

The ZEC, chaired by Judge George Chiweshe, a retired soldier and war veteran, with Lovemore Sekeramayi, the brother of Defence Minister Sidney Sekeramayi, as the chief elections officer, has not yet reacted to claims outlined in a statement by Ncube.

"On the night of 31 March and the morning of 1 April, officials from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission appeared on Zimbabwe television and gave an account of the total number of people who had voted in each constituency. The total number of constituencies, whose figures were given, was 76, before the announcement was abruptly ceased without explanation," Ncube said in the statement.

"We have taken time to analyse the figures in relation to the totals that each candidate polled, as given by officials from ZEC in announcing the results. In each and every case, we find that there are glaring discrepancies between the total number given of the people who voted, and the totals of the results," Ncube noted.

According to ZEC, 36,821 people voted in the Beitbridge constituency, but the the total of votes cast for the two candidates only added up to 20,602, leaving 16,219 votes unaccounted for, the MDC said.

There are more than 30 constituencies with 5,000 or more votes unaccounted for.

"We urgently seek an explanation from you as to the reason for these disparities. We have reason to believe that these disparities are as a direct result of manipulation of numbers to achieve ZANU-PF victories in constituencies where they had lost," Ncube told the ZEC.

MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said the party had submitted its findings to the Southern African Development Community and the South African observer missions that monitored the elections.

"Regrettably, these observer missions have so far shown a chronic lack of interest in such compelling statistics and, instead, have maintained their respective positions that the elections reflected 'the will of the people'," Nyathi told IRIN.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted that the 31 March poll was conducted peacefully, but expressed concern "that the electoral process has not countered the sense of disadvantage felt by opposition political parties, who consider the conditions unfair".

Annan called on all sides to engage in constructive dialogue in the period ahead.

[ENDS]