Arrests as Mugabe fights back
- 00:01:41
- ITN
Arrests as Mugabe fights back
Seven election officials in Zimbabwe have been charged with undercounting votes for beleaguered president Robert Mugabe.The latest twist in the saga of the troubled southern African country's presidential poll could give Mr Mugabe more time to plan a fightback after suffering the biggest election defeat of his 28-year reign.Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says the country is on a "razor's edge" as Zimbabweans wait for the results of a final poll that could see the 84-year-old president thrown out of office.He has accused Mr Mugabe of planning to rig the vote and use veterans of the former British colony's war of independence to overturn the decision by force if necessary.Mr Tsvangirai predicts he has won the presidential poll but the ruling Zanu-PF party claims the vote was a draw, meaning Mr Mugabe has survived and faces a run-off.But the ten-day deadlock continues after delays in publishing the results by the country's election commission and the High Court in the capital Harare.The court finally ruled on Tuesday that it should treat the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's (MDC) application for the immediate release of the results urgently and has begun hearing arguments in the case.MDC lawyer Alec Muchadehama told the court: "The applicants have a legitimate concern to have the results announced expeditiously. The applicants have a clear right to the results."How can someone challenge results that are not known? Where did those people get the results to enable them to make these challenges?"A run-off between Mr Tsvangirai and Mr Mugabe must take place within three weeks of the publication of the results, prompting claims the president is deliberately stalling to give himself more time to plan a final election campaign.But the arrests of the seven officials across the country come as the Mugabe regime repeats counter-claims of electoral fraud by the opposition.
ITN | April 8, 2008
