Southern African leaders called on Sunday for the rapid release of results from Zimbabwe's election after a two-week delay that has raised fears of violence.
Zambian Foreign Minister Kabinga Pande told reporters a 13-hour summit in Lusaka had also called on President Robert Mugabe to ensure that a possible run-off vote against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai be held "in a secure environment".
The 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) "urged the electoral authorities in Zimbabwe that verification and release of results are expeditiously done in accordance with the due process of law", said Pande.
The opposition and human rights organisations have accused Mugabe of orchestrating a systematic campaign of violence in response to his ZANU-PF party's first defeat in a parliamentary election on March 29.
No results have been released yet from the parallel presidential vote but Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says he won outright and that Mugabe's 28-year rule is over in Zimbabwe, where the economy has collapsed.
ZANU-PF says neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai won the necessary absolute majority and a run-off will be necessary.
In Harare, an electoral official said 23 constituencies in the election would be recounted next Saturday, raising new uncertainty over the vote and the possibility that ZANU-PF could overturn its defeat in the parliamentary poll.
The summit ran almost 10 hours over schedule and ended around 5 a.m. (4 a.m. British time). A senior Zambian official said earlier the delay was caused by a disagreement among leaders over whether the post-election impasse should be called a crisis.
But Pande, in response to questions, said: "It is not a crisis at all."
MUGABE ABSENT
Thabo Mbeki, president of Zimbabwe's powerful neighbour South Africa, said after meeting Mugabe en route to the summit that there was no crisis. Mugabe did not attend.
