Southern African heads of state called on Zimbabwe's election authorities on Sunday to verify and release election results speedily and "in accordance with the due process of law."
Meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, into the early hours of Sunday, the leaders of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) also urged all parties in Zimbabwe to accept the results of the elections when they were announced.
Zimbabweans have been waiting for two weeks to hear the presidential election results.
The summit declaration said if there was a run-off presidential election between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwe government "is urged to ensure that… [it is] held in a secure environment."
The opposition fears that the ruling Zanu PF party is gearing up for a violent campaign to intimidate voters into voting for Mugabe.
The SADC declaration was released to journalists early Sunday morning by Zambian Foreign Minister Kabinga Bande, news agencies reported. Mugabe was not at the summit, nor was he mentioned in the declaration, said Agence France-Presse.
The meeting lasted for more than 12 hours. Reuters quoted an unnamed senior Zambian official as saying there was disagreement among SADC leaders over whether the situation in Zimbabwe should be called a crisis.
AFP reported that Tendai Biti, secretary-general of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said the declaration exposed the limitations of SADC's policy of "quiet diplomacy" and urged the SADC mediator on Zimbabwe, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, to abandon it.
But Biti added that the opposition was largely satisfied with the outcome of the summit: "This is a major improvement, SADC has acquitted itself fairly well," AFP reported him as saying.
In a separate development, Harare's government-owned Sunday Mail newspaper reports that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has agreed to recount votes in 23 parliamentary constituencies in which Zanu PF is disputing results.
Zanu PF lost control of parliament in the elections two weeks ago, and enough successful challenges to individual results could swing the balance of power in its favour again.
In Lusaka, Foreign Minister Bande told journalists the issue had been discussed at the summit. If there was a recount, it should be carried out in the presence of all parties, he was reported as saying.
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I am supprised by Mbeki s remarks that the is no crisis in Zim.To me it appears Mbeki needs to see blood being shed for him to see that ther is crisis.At the moment quite a number of people have lost thier lives ni the rural areas since the announcement of results.There is no independent media(since some had thier licences withdrawn or printing machines bombed) and no one can report these cases of murder on opposition. Over the weekend the ZEC had started recounnts in some constituencies won by MDC and in Bikita Musakwa (Zanu) was declared winner.
The recounting of vote results without stake holders like obervors and the opposition is a clear indication that the Electrol Commission does not respect the will of the people and is biased. We do not want to see another Kenya. let all the recounting be done with the presence of the opposition and the observors. Other wise no one will accept these results of recouning without any checks and balances. Please Mugabe do not take the will of people for granted. Look at the number of people without jobs and no food.You are the courser of all this crisis if only you could have solved the problem of land amicably other than putting Zimbabwe in the mess in which it is now. Let the will of the people prevail.You are not yhe only person who can rule Zimbabwe, after all you have faile by killimg the Zimbabians due to the hunger you have created and you will never solve this problem by rulling.
The Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) have released a very useful report yesterday - recommended reading for all interested in the counting, re-counting and possible rigging of the Zimbabwean elections.
The 15 page report is titled The Inconvenient Truth: A complete guide to the delay in releasing the results of Zimbabwes presidential poll., and can be downloaded in .pdf format from the sokwanele.com website: http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/891
There is detailed analysis of just how Zimbabwean electoral law has not been followed by the ZEC during the events subsequent to the election day.
This is the IDASA Mission Statement:
IDASA is an independent public interest organization committed to promoting sustainable democracy based on active citizenship, democratic institutions and social justice.
hallo
I am very disappointed with Mr Mbeki and SADC leaders. Its a shame. They have the opportunity to clean their image and they have let us down once again.
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