MDC set to challenge election result

Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) will on Friday launch a court challenge against President Robert Mugabe’s election victory, its legal affairs director, David Coltart, told IRIN on Wednesday "Our legal team is finalising the petition," he said. "We are basing the challenge on everything from the violence, the abduction of polling agents, manipulation of the voters’ roll, disenfranchising of people, non compliance with court orders and fraud." One of the points in the petition would be that despite repeated attempts, the MDC had still not received a copy of the voters’ roll from the registrar general. "In contrast, we were told the voters’ roll had closed on 19 January, but discovered that unbeknown to us certain areas were open until 3 March," he said. After papers were filed on Friday, Mugabe would be given a chance to respond, after which an electoral trial would be declared and a trial date set, Coltart said. Ultimately, the MDC would seek court sanction for fresh elections, he added. The court challenge is to run parallel to post-election talks between MDC and ZANU-PF, in which the MDC is seeking fresh elections, a demand already rejected by Mugabe. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who received 41,9 percent of the vote against Mugabe’s 56,2 percent, has called the 9-11 March elections "massively rigged" and described the re-elected government as a junta. The Electoral Services Commission's chief electoral officer, Douglas Nyikayaramba, said the deadline for objections was 30 days after the announcement of the result on 13 March. The MDC's court challenge would be the first, he said. Friday’s planned court action will be the latest in a series involving the MDC. Shortly after the election, Tsvangirai and shadow land and agriculture minister, Renson Gasela, were charged with treason relating to a secretly recorded video of Tsvangirai allegedly plotting to kill Mugabe. Treason carries a maximum penalty of death in Zimbabwe. Four other MDC officials have also been implicated. Coltart himself will return to court in June on a firearm charge. All the charges have been denied. The MDC also launched a successful court application to have voting extended when it became clear polling stations weren't coping with the number of voters in March. Meanwhile, on Wednesday the inter-party talks were postponed to 13 May. The talks are facilitated by Nigerian diplomat Adebayo Adedeji and Kgalema Motlanthe, secretary general of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress. They were appointed by South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo, who were part of a troika (with Australian Prime Minister John Howard) which recommended Zimbabwe’s suspension for a year from the Commonwealth.