(16 Aug 2013) Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change of outgoing Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday said it was withdrawing a court challenge over disputed election results that gave long-time President Robert Mugabe a commanding victory, saying it did not believe it would get a fair hearing.
The party said in a document filed at the Constitutional Court that it would not participate in a hearing scheduled on Saturday and asked that the nine judges of the highest court be advised of the withdrawal.
The MDC says up to one (m) million eligible voters were kept from voting and ballots were cast in the names of dead people, but on Friday it was still waiting for a court to release crucial documents they say will prove it.
Without that evidence, the party said it was impossible to proceed with the case.
"We have now been told by the chief justice that we cannot lead oral evidence. We cannot lead evidence from Zimbabweans whose rights were violated, " said MDC spokesman Douglas Muwonzora.
The MDC said that if the challenge had been pursued and then thrown out, Mugabe would have gained symbolic legitimacy.
"It doesn't matter going to court, the outcome of the court doesn't matter. We know what the outcome of the court case will be. But Mugabe and ZANU-PF, they know they stole this election," said party leader Morgan Tsvangirai, speaking at the funeral of an MDC supporter who died in a remand prison.
After violent and disputed elections in 2008, Mugabe was forced by regional leaders to form a shaky power-sharing coalition with Tsvangirai.
But the 89-year-old Mugabe was said to have garnered 61 percent of the presidential vote to Tsvangirai's 34 percent in the July 31 election.
The longtime president has traditionally appointed Zimbabwe's judges and has long been accused of packing the judiciary with his sympathisers.
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