Opposition retains hold of seat in Zimbabwe recount
HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwe's opposition has retained its hold of one of 23 constituencies where votes are being recounted from last month's general elections, the electoral commission said on Thursday.
Commission spokesman Utloile Silaigwana said candidates for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had been confirmed as the winners of the contests for a seat in parliament and the largely ceremonial senate in Zaka West.
The constituency is the second to have completed its recount from the March 29 joint parliamentary and presidential polls, with President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF having been confirmed the winner in Goromonzi West on Wednesday.
ZANU-PF lost control of the 210-seat parliament to the MDC when the initial results were announced but it will regain its majority if it can reverse the outcome of seven of the constituencies under the microscope.
No results have so far been released from the presidential election.
Silaigwana meanwhile confirmed that the commission expected the recounting in the other 21 constituencies to be completed by the weekend.
"We expect the recount to be finished by the weekend because quite a number of constituences have finished the counting," he told AFP.
"I hope the politicians will not raise issues at the last minute which delay the process."
