Court deals election setback to Mugabe

In a major setback for President Mugabe, Zimbabwe's Supreme Court yesterday ruled that a government decision to outlaw postal ballots was illegal.

The ruling, less than two weeks before the presidential election, opens up the poll to voters among the half-million Zimbabweans living abroad, most of whom are expected to vote against Mr Mugabe.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) went to the Supreme Court to challenge the General Laws Amendment Act, which was rushed through parliament last month after the Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, set aside standing orders. The Act banned postal votes and restricted the rights of observers and monitors.

"We challenged the setting aside of parliamentary standing orders as unconstitutional," said Adrian De Bourbon, an MDC lawyer. He described the ruling as "absolutely significant. It means that thousands of Zimbabweans who have registered to vote but are resident in South Africa can now do so, though they'll have to act very, very fast".

Even before the court ruling, opinion polls showed that Mr Mugabe was in danger of losing the election, although large numbers of voters are expected to stay at home because of intimidation by the ruling party.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and two MDC officials were charged this week with treason, which carries the death penalty, although they have been allowed to continue campaigning. And Mr Mugabe's treatment of European Union observers and restrictions on election coverage led to the imposition of sanctions by the EU.

Tony Blair is to press for the suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth at this weekend's Brisbane summit. "What is happening in Zimbabwe is an outrage," Mr Blair said yesterday. He denounced Mr Mugabe as "undemocratic, wrong and dictatorial".

Voters go to the polls on 9 and 10 March in the first ever challenge to Mr Mugabe's iron grip over an electorate that has endured two years of violence and the worst unrest since the Matabeleland massacres of the early Eighties.

Mr De Bourbon said that the setting aside of the General Laws Amendment Act meant that all electoral laws Zanu-PF had forced through recently were now unlawful. He said that "we're back at the point we were during the June 2000 parliamentary elections", which Mr Mugabe's party narrowly won, even though the MDC had a larger share of the vote.

Mr Blair stressed yesterday that, if the vote does go against Mr Mugabe, "we must be in a position to make sure that the democratically elected government is supported".

The Supreme Court decision cannot be appealed. Three of the four judges hearing the case declared that the Act was unconstitutional.

The Zimbabwean parliament had thrown out the General Amendment Bill on a day when MDC members outnumbered Zanu-PF members.

But on 8 January, Mr Chinamasa set aside standing orders and declared the Bill would have a "second or third reading" to pass into law. In the same week, Zanu-PF used the setting aside of standing orders to push through repressive laws to restrict the press.

Mr De Bourbon, the country's leading constitutional lawyer, has been vilified for his Supreme Court victories by the Mugabe regime, although he fought similar battles against the old white regime.