[JURIST] Zimbabwean opposition group Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [party website, in English] on Sunday accused President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] of plotting to commit election fraud by printing millions of surplus ballot papers in advance of the March 29 presidential vote. MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission [official website] leaked information showing that at Mugabe's request, 9 million paper ballots were printed for the country's 5.7 million registered voters; 600,000 of those ballots were designated as "postal ballots" for police officers, soldiers and civil servants living abroad, a group which Biti estimates to total no more than 50,000. Biti accused Mugabe of "stealing" the 2002 election [BBC report], which he won by a margin of 350,000 votes. Judge George Mutandwa Chiweshe, chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission since his appointment by Mugabe in January 2005, has rejected all suggestions that the extra papers might be misused.

Mugabe, now 84 years old, has served as the head of government in Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive] since 1980, when the country attained independence from Britain. Human Rights Watch [advocacy site] raised doubts about the upcoming election in a report [text] last Wednesday, suggesting that it was likely to be "deeply flawed." Despite concerns of fairness, analysts project that the election poses the biggest threat to Mugabe's rule since he took office. CNN has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] An estimated 6,000 protesters rallied on the island of Okinawa, Japan, Sunday calling for tighter controls on US military personnel in Japan [USFJ website] in the aftermath of the alleged rape [BBC report] of a local 14-year-old girl by a US Marine in February. The rally's executive committee authored a resolution calling for a drastic revision of the US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) [PDF text], signed in 1960 to govern US forces stationed in the county, in order to give Japanese authorities greater jurisdiction over US soldiers. Organizers plan to lobby Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda [official website; BBC profile] next month to change the agreement, though both the Japanese and US governments have expressed reluctance to do so. Japan has urged the US [JURIST report] to take measures to prevent future incidents, saying failure to do so would weaken the countries' alliance. The soldier accused of rape, 38-year-old Tyrone Hadnott, was arrested by Japanese police in February but has been returned to US custody for further investigation following the girl's decision to drop charges against him.

The US-Japan SOFA was last revised in 1995 [MOFA materials] following a similar incident in which three US servicemen were convicted of raping a 12-year-old Okinawan girl [CNN report]. Communities surrounding US bases in Japan have long complained [advocacy backgrounder] of crimes committed by soldiers stationed there. As a result of the 1995 agreement, the base on Okinawa is scheduled to be moved to a less populated area of the island; after the latest incident, the US military has taken a no-tolerance stance on sexual-assaults [Guardian report], including implementation of an indefinite 24-hour curfew on troops stationed there. Reuters has more. Kyodo News has local coverage.

[JURIST] Malaysia [JURIST news archive] will institute reforms to ensure an independent judiciary in an effort to restore trust in the nation's courts, newly appointed Malaysian Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim [firm profile] told the New Straits Times Sunday. Zaid said he will work to institutionalize the appointment and promotion of judges through an independent body, and to ensure greater transparency in the process. He also said that the government will consider issuing an apology to the victims of Malaysia's 1988 judicial crisis, including ousted former chief justice Salleh Abbas. Zaid's proposals were immediately backed by the Malaysian Bar Council [NST report].

The comments come after Malaysia's March 8 elections saw the ruling National Front (BN) [party website] lose its two-thirds parliamentary majority in the coalition's biggest defeat in its over 50 years of existence. The results were widely considered a major setback for Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi [official website; BBC profile], who recently shook up his cabinet [Bernama report] after rejecting calls to resign [BBC report]. Abdullah succeeded former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad [BBC profile], who set off the judicial crisis of the late 1980s after removing high court justices and introducing constitutional changes that curbed judicial power, ensuring government decisions would be free from judicial review. Reuters has more.