Zimbabwe poll body says "dangerous" to give result

A lawyer for Zimbabwe's electoral commission said on Wednesday it would be "dangerous" for the High Court to order the release of presidential election results, as demanded by the opposition MDC.

The Movement for Democratic Change has gone to court to try to force out the result of the March 29 vote, saying its leader Morgan Tsvangirai has won and should be declared president, ending the 28-year rule of President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe is trying to delay the result announcement, pending a recount, to give him time to prepare for a probable runoff against Tsvangirai.

George Chikumbirike, a lawyer for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, told judge Tendai Uchena: "It would be dangerous in my view to give an order because it might not be complied with ... because of outside exigencies which the party (ZEC) will be unable to control."

He did not elaborate but appeared to be referring to rising tension in Zimbabwe because of the post-election impasse. Chikumbirike also declined to say how far the ZEC had gone in preparing to announce the result, saying this was privileged information which "the commission has entitlement to release when it's ready".

Mugabe's critics blame him for reducing the population to misery by mismanagement that has ruined the Zimbabwean economy, now suffering the world's highest hyper-inflation, chronic shortages of food and fuel and a near worthless currency. He says Western sanctions are to blame.

Jacob Zuma, leader of the ruling party in Zimbabwe's powerful neighbour South Africa, earlier joined a chorus of demands for the release of the results. Zimbabwe's third presidential candidate, ruling party defector Simba Makoni also urged urgent release of the outcome.

In Brussels, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso voiced concern at the delay. The MDC says Mugabe has unleashed a wave of violence against the opposition since the election and called on African nations to intervene to prevent further bloodshed.

Zuma, who rivals President Thabo Mbeki as the most powerful man in South Africa and is the frontrunner to succeed him in 2009, told the Star newspaper: "I think the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission should have announced results by now." Western powers led by former colonial ruler Britain and the United States have been calling for the result since last week but South Africa has much greater influence as the regional power that has tried to mediate in Zimbabwe.

South Africa also feels fallout from the crisis and its rand currency rose last week on signs Mugabe could be on the way out. "It is not a good thing to keep the nation in suspense. Now the Zimbabwean elections have become an international issue. We all expected that once the elections were finished, results would be announced. Now there are suspicions from the people," said Zuma, who met Tsvangirai earlier this week. His remarks opened a gap with Mbeki who has consistently called for "quiet diplomacy" in Zimbabwe and led unsuccessful mediation last year by the regional body SADC.

Zuma ousted Mbeki as party leader in December and has gradually begun to eclipse him since then. Makoni, a former finance minister, told a news conference: "We don't know what is going on, but the results must be released without any further delay." He said his officials had been denied access to the vote counting centre and the delay was causing national tension. The long delay to results has fuelled opposition accusations that Mugabe is planning a violent backlash to stay in power.

The former guerrilla commander suffered his first defeat in a parallel vote when ZANU-PF lost control of parliament. The MDC says Mugabe is trying to prolong the delay in results to push opposition supporters into violence and give himself a pretext to declare a state of emergency. It accuses Mugabe was trying to rig the result so he can contest a runoff against Tsvangirai after cowing opposition supporters with his loyal militias.