President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party today demanded a recount of the vote in last weekend's Zimbabwean presidential election, pushing the timetable for the results to be released ever further back.

The move, reported in the state Sunday Mail newspaper, prompted outrage from the opposition party which claims its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the March 29 presidential ballot outright.

The Movement for Democratic Change said that it would not accept a recount, and did not want a runoff. Today it was pressing ahead with legal attempts to force the publication of the results.

“How do you have a vote recount for a result that has not been announced? That is ridiculous,” said Nelson Chamisa, an opposition spokesman.

He accused the ruling Zanu (PF) party of vote fraud, claiming that police have told opposition leaders that the ruling party has been tampering with ballots ever since the election.

“These claims are totally unfounded and they are only meant to justify Zanu (PF)'s rigging,” he said.

The Sunday Mail quoted a letter from a lawyer representing Zanu (PF) calling for a recount because of “errors and miscalculations in the compilation of the poll result”.

The party also asked the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to defer announcement of the presidential election results because of the “anomalies”, the paper reported.

The report came a day after Mr Tsvangirai called on Mr Mugabe to step down, and accused the country’s longtime ruler of plotting a campaign of violence to bolster his chances of winning an expected runoff.

Eight days after the election, the commission has yet to announce the results. Unofficial tallies by independent monitors show that Mr Tsvangirai won more votes than Mr Mugabe, but fewer than the 50 percent plus one vote required to avoid a runoff.

Opposition party lawyer Andrew Makoni said a high court judge was expected to rule at 2pm (1200 GMT) on an urgent petition demanding publication of the election results, but the time came and went with no news from the court.

Mr Makoni said that the judge had only just received a submission from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission justifying the delay, and needed time to consider it.

Times Recommends

• Henning Mankell: ‘If Wallander was alive, I wouldn’t be a friend of his’
• Secret society's skull and crossbones for sale
• Nigerian leader vanishes after medical treatment