A tallying up of the disputed parliamentary seats has established the opposition’s control over the parliament in Zimbabwe. The tallying is expected to get over by Monday permitting the release of results of Zimbabwe’s presidential election, the state media reported on Sunday 27 April. The Sunday Mail stated that the initial results were confirmed on the basis of the recount of 18 out of 23 contested seats. Even though the opposition missed the final five districts, it will still have the majority in parliament for the first time since its freedom from Britain in 1980.

 

The primary reports of the 29 March elections in Zimbabwe showed that the opposition groups secured 110 seats to President Robert Mugabe party's 97. Three seats are vacant, awaiting by-elections after the deaths of candidates. The Sunday Mail newspaper, which happens to be the government mouthpiece, has reported that the state Electoral Commission intended to call Mugabe as well as opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai to the last verification and collation formalities on their presidential tallies on Monday, 28 April.

 

Judge George Chiweshe, who is the head of the electoral commission, has said that the procedure of supplying recounted statistics into the systems had already started and should get over by Monday, 28 April. After this, he said that tallies from the presidential race will be inspected by the candidates or their representatives before the results are declared. It was also revealed by Judge George Chiweshe that the election authorities had conceded to the idea of each party collating its own figures in the last verification stage.

 

The outcome of 10 disputed parliamentary votes was established by the electoral commission on Saturday 26 April. It stated six seats to be secured by the opposition and four by Mugabe's ZANU-PF party in the 29 March election. Tallies from the extra eight recounted seats have not been declared but Judge Chiweshe recently remarked that there is no crucial variance between the two counts, thereby clearly signaling the opposition's dominance on the main 210-seat House of Assembly. President Robert Mugabe, thought to have lost the presidential contest, has been accused of using delays, fraud and violence to hold onto power. But even if he holds on to the presidency, he will have to deal with a defiant parliament.