Candidates to verify Zimbabwe poll count

Harare: A partial recount in Zimbabwe's disputed presidential poll was completed yesterday and candidates can start verifying results, electoral officials said, possibly ending four weeks of post-election stalemate.

President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF lost control of parliament for the first time since he took power in 1980.

Now attention has turned to the outcome of the March 29 presidential vote.

A victory for Mugabe would mean a deeper economic crisis and little prospect of political change, political analysts say.

A victory for Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), would mean Western powers were likely to pour in aid and investment so long as he introduced democracy.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) would invite presidential candidates to compare their own vote tallies with those of the commission, as the law states.

The candidates were likely to dispute the figures, which would further delay the announcement of results by up to a week, said ZEC deputy chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana.

Run-off to come

A run-off is expected. Tsvangirai says he won outright and accuses Mugabe of using the delay to rig victory in a run-off.

The MDC has raised the prospect of more delays. The party called on the United Nations to send an envoy to help resolve the crisis. That seemed unrealistic given Mugabe's rejection of foreign intervention as a violation of Zimbabwe's sovereignty.

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said party Secretary-General Tendai Biti would lobby the UN Security Council today to intervene.