The country’s electoral commission said releasing results from the March 29 presidential vote would be ‘dangerous’ as international efforts for release of poll widened.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3973 to give him time to prepare for a probable runoff against top opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Lawyers for the ZEC hinted at escalating violence in the conflict torn state, where a week’s delay in critical election results has led to widespread fears of clashes between opposition and government supporters, reports Reuters. International human rights activists say Zimbabwe’s recent history of political violence has been fostered by militias backed by Mr. Mugabe, a charge the government denies.
Mugabe’s ZANU PF party apparently lost control of Parliament, according to results released April 3. But Mugabe is disputing the results, and some electoral officials have been arrested. Opposition figures have warned that government-backed militias are campaigning to intimidate voters with violence ahead of a possible runoff election, the Los Angeles Times reports, and on April 4, one opposition leader said Mugabe had been “preparing a war against the people,” reported The Christian Science Monitor.
International calls for the release of delayed results from the vote also increased on Wednesday. The United Nations, European Union, Australia, and Jacob Zuma, the leader of South Africa’s ruling party, all issued calls for the release of election results, Reuters reports.
Tendai Biti, spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition party, said more violence in the conflict-torn state was imminent unless two regional groups – the African Union and the Southern African Development Community – intervened.
“We (Africa) responded poorly in Rwanda and a million people were killed,” Biti told a press conference.
“I say don’t wait for dead bodies on the streets of Harare. Intervene now. There’s a constitutional and legal crisis in Zimbabwe.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0409/p99s01-duts.html