Zimbabwe holds partial recount of March 29 vote

By Nelson Banya

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe began a partial recount of votes from March 29 elections on Saturday, despite opposition efforts to block it and widespread fears that political stalemate could erupt into violence.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, accused of treason by the government, said in Johannesburg he feared being attacked or imprisoned if he returned to Zimbabwe.

The recount in 23 of 210 constituencies could overturn the results of the parliamentary election, which showed President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF losing its majority to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change for the first time.

ZANU-PF lost 16 of those 23 constituencies in the original count, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said. The ruling party needs to win nine more seats for a simple majority in parliament.

Results of a parallel presidential ballot have not been released but Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC, says he won it.

"The vote recounting process has started, and it's going to be a thorough exercise. We expect it to take about three days," a Zimbabwe Electoral Commission official told Reuters.

There have been concerns in the West and among the opposition that Mugabe is trying to rig the results and the MDC has said it will not accept the recount.

"We reject the process. We reject the outcome of this flawed process," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said. "As far as the MDC is concerned, the first results stand. Anything else will be an illegitimate process."