Zimbabwe Opposition calls for re-run of election

Zimbabwe's Opposition demanded a re-run of parliamentary elections yesterday, saying constitutional changes were needed to cut the influence of President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF over electoral bodies.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said last week's polls - in which his party suffered a big defeat - were a sham because all electoral institutions were controlled by Mr Mugabe's party.

"There should be a new election because this election has proved to be a sham. But the MDC is talking of a fresh election under a new constitutional dispensation and not a mere repeat under the same environment," his spokesman, William Bango, said.

He said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, set up just before the election, was biased towards Mr Mugabe and because it appointed local government officials to run the polls it skewed them further in ZANU-PF's favour.

" ... we require discussions that would get us to arrive at the type of laws that can govern a free and fair playing field. We have to press for this and if it is achieved then we can talk of the next step, which would be organising an election," Mr Bango said.

"We seek a political solution here," he said, adding that Mr Tsvangirai had given that message to diplomats on Sunday.

ZANU-PF rejected the MDC demands as "absolute rubbish". "It will not happen. They lost this election and the next one will be held in 2010," said ZANU-PF deputy spokesman Ephraim Masawi. "No one should take the MDC's demands seriously."

The head of the Commonwealth said members should step up dialogue with Mr Mugabe, who pulled Zimbabwe out of the grouping of mostly former British colonies in 2003.

"I would only encourage Commonwealth governments to engage with Zimbabwe as best as they can for the sake of the people of Zimbabwe," Secretary-General Don McKinnon said in his first comments since Thursday's poll.

"The sad thing is that we are hearing reports that cover the full spectrum. Some say it (the election) was very good, some say it was not very good, some say it was unfair," he told reporters in Nairobi.

The MDC says election irregularities included voters being turned away from polling stations and thousands of extra votes being cast in battleground constituencies.

But African observers said the polls were credible and told the MDC to go to court if it had any evidence of ballot fraud.

The European Union has called the elections "phoney" while the United States said they were flawed. Zimbabwe did not invite either to send observers.

The MDC says it does not believe going to court would be a solution as so many of its previous legal actions in other elections have failed.

ZANU-PF handed the MDC a crushing defeat, taking 78 of 120 contested seats against just 41 for the MDC. One independent was also elected.

Mr Mugabe, 81, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, appoints 30 additional members of the 150-seat legislature, boosting ZANU-PF's majority past the two-thirds mark which allows it to change the constitution at will.

Zimbabwe quit the Commonwealth after it renewed a suspension on the country imposed in 2002 when Mr Mugabe was re-elected in a poll that Opposition and foreign observers said was rigged.