Zimbabwe election recount begins

A parital recount of votes from Zimbabwe's March 29 elections has begun, despite efforts to block it.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.The Electoral Commission said ZANU-PF lost 16 of those 23 constituencies in the original count. The ruling party needs to win nine more seats for a simple majority in parliament.ZANU-PF triggered the recount after it accused election officials of taking bribes to undercount votes for Mr Mugabe and his ruling party and committing other electoral fraud. Several election officials have been arrested since.Harare's High Court rejected an application by opposition party MDC to block the recount on Friday. The court previously denied its request to force authorities to release the result of the presidential vote.There have been concerns in the West and among the opposition that Mr Mugabe is trying to rig the results and the MDC has said it will not accept the recount.MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said: "We reject the process. We reject the outcome of this flawed process."As far as the MDC is concerned, the first results stand. Anything else will be an illegitimate process."Results of a parallel presidential ballot have not been released but Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC, says he won that.Mr Tsvangirai, whom the government has accused of treason, said in Johannesburg he feared being attacked or imprisoned if he returned to the country.He said earlier this month that he would go back to Zimbabwe, but first wanted to gather international support.Both US President George W Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have urged African states to take more action to end the post-election deadlock.Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who helped achieve a power-sharing deal to end the post-election crisis in Kenya, issued a similar call at a news conference in Nairobi on Saturday.Mr Annan said: "The question is, where are the leaders of the countries in the region. How can they help resolve the situation?"He added: "I would like to see the sort of action that we've seen here (in Kenya)."A South African-led team from the 14-country Southern African Development Community (SADC) is observing the recount. The SADC called last weekend for the outcome to be announced quickly, but African reaction has been muted.Meanwhile, a ship full of weapons destined for Zimbabwe has been refused entry to South Africa.A court has ruled the arms will not be allowed into Durban amid fears they could be used by Mugabe on his opponents.Workers at the dockyard refused to handle the Chinese goods, which have been in a state of limbo since Monday.

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ITN | April 19, 2008

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