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HARARE - Zimbabwe's politically compromised election commission yesterday began a partial recount of the presidential and parliamentary ballot held three weeks ago in a move the Opposition says is designed to overturn its victories.
The recount, which state radio said could take three days, came as the Opposition presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, said he fears for his life if he returns to Zimbabwe.
Human Rights Watch yesterday accused Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF Party of setting up a network of torture camps in its violent campaign against supporters of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change.
The MDC said security forces shot dead a man, Tendai Chibika, in Mutoko after he fled a forced Zanu-PF meeting at which opposition supporters were identified and assaulted.
The recounts are taking place in 23 constituencies, all but one of them lost by Zanu-PF to the MDC as Mugabe's party lost control of Parliament for the first time since independence 28 years ago. Zanu-PF will overturn the MDC victory if the results are reversed in just nine constituencies.
If Mugabe retained power it would be important to him to also control Parliament in part because if he retires before the next election his successor as President for the remainder of the six-year term will be chosen by MPs.
Mugabe's party said the recounts were necessary after it discovered "evidence showing under-counting of its votes and inflation of opposition ballots" after 11 electoral commission officials were arrested and accused of tampering with vote tallies.
The MDC says it fears a huge vote-rigging exercise is under way because ballot boxes in the affected constituencies were removed from independent scrutiny during the past three weeks.
If neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai wins an outright majority, the law requires a run-off within three weeks. But Tsvangirai, who says his party's count shows he won just over 50 per cent of the vote, has vacillated over whether to participate in a second round, saying that a fair election is not possible amid surging violence in rural areas.
Tsvangirai, who has been touring southern Africa to drum up support, has also expressed fears for his own safety and said he will remain abroad for now.
"It is no use going back to Zimbabwe and becoming captive. Then you are not effective," he told a Canadian newspaper.
The campaign of violence, called Operation Makavhoterapapi ("Where did you put your cross?") by Zanu-PF officials, has spread across regions where opposition support surged in the election.
- OBSERVER
