13.Apr.2008

The 14-nation South African Development Community(SADC) meeting took place in Lusaka, Zambia yesterday and Number 1 on the agenda was the political impasse in Zimbabwe of which the meeting concluded with a call to release election results immediately. In attendance was MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai.

President Mugabe snubbed the meeting at the eleventh hour and instead sent a delegation of ministers to represent him. South African President T.Mbeki made a stop over at Harare on his way to Lusaka and met President Mugabe who indeed gave him his side of the story which he carried to the summit. The South African President said there was no crisis in Zimbabwe after meeting the ZANU-PF Leader.

Zimbabwe has announced a recount of 23 constituencies of all presidential, parliamentary, senate and council votes cast in the 29 March elections. Twenty two of them at the demand of ZANU-PF's Robert Mugabe while MDC requested for a recount in one constituency.

MDC lawyer Selby Hwacha said the will have to sue ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) "We will see how they play it out, but we will challenge it," he said. Accepting a recount would be "accepting rigged results," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told Reuters news agency. "They had custody of the ballot boxes for two weeks and they must have stuffed them with their votes."

A change in the parliamentary results by 9 seats could see President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party gaining the majority in the assembly.