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Zimbabwe Opposition Requests Anullment of Presidential Vote - 2002-04-12


Zimbabwe's main opposition party has filed a legal challenge to last month's disputed presidential elections in which President Robert Mugabe was declared the winner.

The Movement for Democratic Change filed a petition Friday before Zimbabwe's High Court asking that the election results be annulled. The party says it expects a formal court hearing in two months at the earliest.

The Movement for Democratic Change filed its petition before Zimbabwe's High Court on Friday, hours before the expiration of a 30-day deadline for legal challenges against the election.

MDC official David Coltart says the party expects a formal court hearing in two months at the earliest.

Party leader and defeated candidate Morgan Tsvangirai and his top aides say they have massive evidence of election fraud by government officials and members of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party.

The opposition has charged ZANU PF with ballot-stuffing and harassment of opposition activists and voters. The Movement for Democratic Change also says the government deliberately slowed down the voting process in opposition-friendly urban precincts.

The government has said it will not organize a new election. Western observers said the vote was neither free nor fair, but most African governments have called it legitimate.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.

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