(dpa) - Namibian President
Hifikepunye Pohamba on Sunday rejected allegations by Zimbabwe's opposition
that President Robert Mugabe was trying to rig the outcome of recent elections,
saying he was satisfied that the law was being upheld.
"There has been the impression that the government of Zimbabwe is
tampering with the result. It is not true," Pohamba said on his return
from an emergency Southern African Development Community summit in Zambia on
the election standoff in Zimbabwe.
"Neither the government, the ruling party or the
opposition," had tampered with the outcome of the March 29 polls, Pohamba
said.
The only issue was ZEC's more than two-week delay in announcing the presidential
results, he said.
The one-day SADC summit ended early Sunday with a call for ZEC to release the
presidential results "expeditiously."
The High Court in Harare is due to issue its finding Monday on an urgent
application by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) for an order
forcing ZEC to release the results.
"Let's now ask the electoral commission that, immediately after the
pronouncement of the court, they should then announce the result in accordance
with the Zimbabwean law on the election," Pohamba said in a statement on
his return to Windhoek.
Pohamba said SADC heads of state had been satisfied with explanations provided
about the arrest of several ZEC officials over allegations by Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party they had deliberately underestimated his tally.
Pohamba said the arrests followed discrepancies in the vote count discovered by
both Zanu-PF and the MDC and their requests for verification.
"So we have left Lusaka very much happy, convinced that the due course of
law has been followed," Pohamba said.