HARARE—Checking of votes from Zimbabwe's disputed presidential poll was put off again on Tuesday, further delaying the day when the country will know if President Robert Mugabe is to remain in power.
The wait for the March 29 election result has led to a tense standoff and drawn opposition accusations that Mugabe is trying to rig the outcome and intimidate opponents in the hope of swinging a possible runoff with rival Morgan Tsvangirai.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission invited presidential candidates and their agents to verify results from May 1. The process, which had been due to start on Tuesday, could still take another week before a result can be made public.
"This exercise will pave way for the announcement of the result of the presidential election," state radio said in a notice from the commission.
Mugabe has been under growing international pressure over the delay to the result and even the liberation hero's old regional allies have shown signs of impatience. The European Union called on Tuesday for a global arms embargo on Zimbabwe.
Mugabe's critics and political analysts say that if he keeps his 28-year hold on power, it would deepen the economic crisis in the country once described as the breadbasket of southern Africa.
But Western powers stand ready to pour in aid and investment if victory goes to Movement for Democratic Change leader Tsvangirai. Mugabe dismisses his opponents as Western stooges.
Opposition supporters from Zimbabwe's rural areas described a campaign of arson and violence against them since the ballot, in which Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF lost its majority in parliament for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980.
Burned Down
Vhaina Mujake had her home burned down in Mutoko district, a ruling party stronghold, forcing her to flee with her three children. She now fears they will be unable to return to school.
"What sort of people would do that to children," she said, holding back tears. Her husband remains in police custody.
Thousands of people have fled their homes and the MDC says more than 15 of its supporters have been killed by ZANU-PF militants. The party denies this.
A state newspaper, quoting a government statement, said one man was killed and two were injured when opposition supporters tried to attack an army camp. There was no immediate comment on the report from police or the MDC.
Some 200 opposition supporters arrested during a police raid on the MDC headquarters late last week, were freed on Tuesday after Zimbabwe's High Court ordered their release.
"I am angry because they need not have been arrested at all," MDC lawyer Alec Muchadehama said.
The European Union, which already has an arms embargo in place, called for an international halt to arms sales to Zimbabwe and urged its neighbours to increase pressure on Mugabe over the election.
During the vote checking process, candidates, their proxies and observers will compare official figures from the ward level up with those they have compiled themselves from the nearly 9,000 polling stations.
Only after all parties agree with the figures will a final overall result be announced. The process could take up to a week because disputes are likely to arise, said Utoile Silaigwana, the electoral commission's deputy chief elections officer.
Tsvangirai says he won the election outright and there is no need for a runoff, but independent and ruling party projections pointed to a second round to decide the winner. That would be held within 21 days of the result being announced.
Tsvangirai said on Monday his party had united with a breakaway MDC faction to work together in parliament, strengthening their majority in an assembly that had until now been a rubber stamp for Mugabe.
Zimbabweans had hoped the election would ease economic turmoil. Instead, severe food, fuel and foreign currency shortages are worsening and there are no signs an inflation rate of 165,000 percent—the world's highest—will ease.
A United Nations Security Council briefing on the post-election crisis in Zimbabwe has been slated for Tuesday.
Feeds