One continent apart ... but same election manipulation tactics for Mugabe and Hun Sen

Robert Mugabe (L) and Hun Sen (R)

Mugabe under fire over Zimbabwe poll results

HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe came under increased pressure Monday to allow the release of presidential election results as his rival Morgan Tsvangirai met with ruling party chief Jacob Zuma in South Africa.

The heat on 84-year-old Mugabe was turned up with a flurry of near-simultaneous statements from the European Union, the White House, the US State Department and the United Nations.

The man who says he defeated Mugabe outright, opposition leader Tsvangirai, meanwhile, made his first overseas trip since the March 29 polls.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was cagey about the visit, describing it as routine and denying any meetings with government officials took place.

However, a spokesman from the African National Congress confirmed to AFP that Tsvangirai held talks with Zuma, who was elected head of the ANC in December and is likely to be the next South African president.

A judge in Harare dismissed a claim by the electoral commission that the courts could not hear an MDC legal bid to force the immediate declaration of the results and said he would rule Tuesday on the matter.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged the commission, whose leaders are appointed by Mugabe, to release results of the polls "expeditiously and with transparency," while the European Union called for them "without further delay."

The US further questioned the logic behind Mugabe's ruling party's call for a recount of the presidential vote.

"It's overdue that the election results be announced," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington.

"It's interesting that they haven't had the official election results announced, yet there is a call for a recount. I'm not sure of the logic train there," McCormack said.

Tsvangirai, 56, claims outright victory in last week's poll, but the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) says there was no clear winner and has endorsed Mugabe for a second-round vote.

ZANU-PF is alleging irregularities and said on Monday it had arrested several election officials.

"Since the counting started we have arrested seven people in connection with anomalies which became apparent in the presidential polls," police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena told AFP.

The MDC wrested control of parliament from Mugabe's party for the first time in the simultaneous legislative elections, but the ZANU-PF is contesting enough seats to potentially overturn that result.

War veterans, hardline Mugabe supporters who led often violent farm invasions at the start of the decade, have tried to move onto several of the few remaining white-owned farms.

The Commercial Farmers Union, which represents white farmers in Zimbabwe, said Mugabe supporters had "invaded" at least 30 white-owned properties and accused the president of orchestrating their campaign.

"People are being paid to basically carry out the wishes of the highest office. This is purely racial. We should be living in a country of harmony but the state media is pushing racial hatred which is not good for the country."

The farm invasions serve as a reminder of the violence which followed Mugabe's last electoral reverse when he lost a referendum on presidential powers in 2000.

Then, the occupation of some 4,000 farms came after he was defeated in a constitutional referendum aimed at broadening his powers and facilitating land seizures.

Since being dealt a serious electoral defeat 10 days ago, Mugabe has sought to win popularity by discrediting Tsvangirai and his opposition as Western puppets who would reverse his land reforms.

"Land must remain in our hands. The land is ours, it must not be allowed to slip back into the hands of whites," Mugabe, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, was quoted as saying by the state media on Monday.

Critics blame Mugabe's land reform programme, which was intensified after he lost the referendum in 2000, for Zimbabwe's economic meltdown.

Faced with 80 percent unemployment and six-digit inflation, almost one third of Zimbabwe's 13 million population have left the country, both to find work and food as even basics such as bread and cooking oil are now hard to come by.

Meanwhile, a Harare court released on bail New York Times correspondent Barry Bearak, a British national and two South African media workers after charging them with covering last week's polls without accreditation.