Zimbabwe’s ruling party ZANU-PF has asked the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to delay the results of the March 29 presidential election. According to a report by state media the request was put forward because there had been “errors and miscalculations”. According to papers submitted by ZANY-PF Mugabe’s poll numbers at some polling stations had been reduced before they were sent to electoral officials.
The Opposition Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai said the request for a recount is illegal.
Tendai Biti is the MDC Secretary-General. From the capital, Harare hetold VOA’s Akwei Thompson why the ZANU-PF move is illegal. “Section 66 of the electoral act does not permit a right in a presidential election, and in any event, if it did, that would only be made within 48 hours of the counting…,” Biti said.
He said neither the MDC nor the ZANU-PF has the capacity of knowing “…what is actually inside the system to be able to say there is this discrepancy and so forth.”
Asked what action MDC is going to take, Biti said the party will point out the provisions in the electoral act which makes it impossible what the ZANU-PF is trying to do, “if ZEC “approaches us” as an interested party.”
He said ZANU-PF is playing a media game: “I don’t think they’ve had the audacity to go to ZEC.”
“If ZEC has been approached, surely ZEC must have the decency of informing us as the interested party,” he added.
