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MDC demands explanation from ZEC By Our Correspondent HARARE, May 5, 2008 (thezimbabwetimes.com) - The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has written to Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairman George Chiweshe to demand an explanation over discrepancies in presidential election figures as well as the by-passing of the verification process by the commission last week. In a letter responding to Chiweshe’s remarks dismissing the MDC's allegations of electoral theft during the March 29 poll, the party's secretary general Tendai Biti, demanded a credible explanation from the ZEC chairman. “There must be some explanation as to how this happened and we request you in all seriousness to explain why and how your Commission went on national television to announce the totals of votes cast as tabulated in the attachment of the letter we sent to you. “We do not believe a national institution such as yours can get away from this problem by just ignoring it. We insist that you explain why and how your commission announced to the nation certain totals as being the total votes cast in each constituency,” said Biti. The ZEC chief elections officer last Thursday announced presidential election results stating Morgan Tsvangirai had garnered 1 195 562 ballots, or 47.9 percent of the vote while Robert Mugabe won1 079 730 votes or 43.2 percent. Independent candidate Simba Makoni was said to have secured 207 470 (8.3 percent), with Langton Towungana winning14 503 or 0.6 percent. ZEC also declared that since no candidate had secured a majority of the total votes cast, there would be a run-off election on a date still to be announced. The two candidates eligible for the run-off election are Tsvangirai and Mugabe. But Biti said there were huge discrepancies between the earlier totals of votes extrapolated from V11 forms posted outside polling stations after the initial count and the final results, provoking suspicions of massive rigging in favour of Mugabe. The MDC has since rejected the results as a “huge fraud”. Chiweshe was at pains to explain the discrepancies Friday saying the earlier figures should be ignored as they were "merely incomplete updates". But yesterday, the MDC which says it has unearthed discrepancies totaling 80,000 votes – a crucial 3.4 percent that would have put Tsvangirai over the 50 percent threshold - accused Chiweshe of taking the MDC as "morons". Said Biti: “We would also like to advise you that you should not take us as morons. In the circumstances, we request and demand that you answer our letter on its merit and give us an explanation as to how and why the disparities referred to arose. “What we require from yourself is an explanation as to where you got the figures you announced on national television. Put differently, what was the source of those figures and why are they so different from the official ones? We await a substantive answer to our original request no later than the end of Monday, May 5, 2007.” Under Zimbabwe’s electoral laws, the opposition has up to next Friday to appeal to the Electoral Court which deals with electoral disputes. But chances of the court overturning the election result are slim after Mugabe purged independent judges and packed the bench with his own appointees. In fact, court challenges arising from the 2002 presidential election, which Mugabe allegedly also stole, are still pending.