Nominations in Zimbabwe poll extended

Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition succeeded yesterday in a last-ditch attempt to win more time to nominate candidates for parliamentary…

Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition succeeded yesterday in a last-ditch attempt to win more time to nominate candidates for parliamentary elections scheduled for June 24th.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had taken its case to court, arguing that a postponement was vital if it was to field a full team of candidates in the vote, which could see a real challenge to President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF.

The government side told the court in Harare it had no objection to pushing back the original May 29th closing date. "By consent, the nomination date for elections . . . is moved from May 29th to June 3rd," Judge Godfrey Chidyausiku said. The MDC leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, welcomed the decision.