Zimbabwe parties challenge parliamentary results

By Nelson Banya

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's ruling party and the main opposition have challenged half the results of the March 29 parliamentary election, state media said on Wednesday, extending a political stalemate that has triggered deadly violence.

Official results showed ZANU-PF lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence in 1980, while the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and a breakaway faction together secured enough seats to control the assembly.

The state-run Herald newspaper said ZANU-PF and the MDC had lodged 53 and 52 petitions respectively with the electoral court, citing irregularities they believed affected the results. The challenges come after a recount of original results in 23 constituencies confirmed ZANU-PF's defeat.

The parliamentary vote challenge will have no impact on a parallel presidential ballot, in which MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai won 47.9 percent against President Robert Mugabe's 43.2 percent, triggering a run-off since neither candidate won an absolute majority.

The MDC has not said whether it will participate in the run-off. It believes Tsvangirai won the election outright and has ended Mugabe's 28-year rule over the once prosperous country whose economy is in ruins. If Tsvangirai does not contest the run-off, Mugabe is automatically declared the winner.

Western countries have called on African states to do more to end the turmoil, which has taken its toll on the region. South Africa's chamber of commerce said on Wednesday the crisis was contributing to a decline in business confidence.

The African Union and regional grouping SADC sent teams to Zimbabwe this week to meet Mugabe and others. They called on all sides to participate in a free and transparent run-off.

But an official in a regional election observer mission said holding a run-off amid rising tensions due to political violence could plunge the country deeper into crisis.

The MDC has accused Mugabe's supporters of mounting a violent campaign to scare Zimbabweans into voting for the veteran leader in the runoff. ZANU-PF says the opposition has carried out political attacks.

"The fact that both of them attribute the violence to the other means that there is an acknowledgement that there is violence taking place on all sides," Ambassador Kingsley Mamabolo, head of the South African delegation to the SADC election observer mission, told reporters in Pretoria.

"If that is the case, clearly something needs to be done. Indeed you cannot have the next round of elections taking place in this atmosphere. It would not be helpful."

ELECTION CHALLENGE

The court has six months to rule on the parliamentary complaints, which put in dispute the results of half of parliament's 210 seats.

The challenge the two biggest parties could shift the balance of power in the new parliament. The assembly can be sworn in during an electoral court's review of contested seats, but the court can remove deputies later if it overturns results.

The delay is a further setback for Zimbabweans, who had high hopes the election would usher in a new era of peace and prosperity, but are now victims of a protracted political logjam and post-election violence.