Zimbabwe judge rejects poll result release
Monday, 14 Apr 2008 20:00
Robert Mugabe is still Zimbabwe's president
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The results of
Zimbabwe's recent presidential election will not be published immediately, a high court judge has ruled.
Justice Tendai Uchena rejected the petition by lawyers representing the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party one week after the ruling was initially expected.
The news comes one day after Zimbabwe's election commission, which had challenged the petition after suggesting the judge did not have jurisdiction over the case, ordered recounts in 23 constituencies.
Opponents to incumbent president Robert Mugabe say the government has lost the election, which also saw voters choosing their representatives for the country's senate, parliament and local councils on March 29th.
They claim Mr Mugabe is seeking to cling on to power by denying MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai the outright majority he needs to avoid a second round.
Election results have been published at polling stations for days and the MDC, having counted them, claims to have won control of Zimbabwe's parliament.
Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party believes otherwise and analysts say it hope to maintain its dominance in the country's parliament as well.