[JURIST] Eight Zimbabwean election officials accused of under-counting votes [JURIST report] for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and his ruling Zanu-PF party during the March 29 presidential election [JURIST report] appeared before magistrates in provincial courts Wednesday. Independent observers say that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [party website] candidate Morgan Tsvangirai [BBC profile] won more votes than Mugabe, but Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front [party website] are demanding a recount [JURIST report]. The Zimbabwean Electoral Commission (ZEC) has not yet released the official results because of "errors and miscalculations" in their compilation.

On Monday, a High Court judge in Harare ruled that that court has the jurisdiction to hear a lawsuit seeking a court order to compel the ZEC to immediately release the results [JURIST reports] of the elections, but refused to issue an immediate ruling in the case. On Saturday, the court postponed hearing the case [JURIST report] when lawyers for the MDC were barred by government security forces from entering the courts. From Zimbabwe, the Herald has more.