[JURIST] The Harare High Court on Sunday postponed until Monday its decision on whether it will order Zimbabwe's Electoral Commission to release the results of the nation's March 29 presidential elections, after hearing arguments in a lawsuit [JURIST reports] brought by opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [party website] seeking immediate release of the results. Independent observers say that MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangirai [BBC profile] won more votes than current president Robert Mugabe [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], but Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) [party website] party are demanding a recount [JURIST report]. During a four-hour hearing Sunday, Electoral Commission officials argued that the court does not have jurisdiction to compel publication of the results. Observers predict that neither candidate has received an outright majority of votes, in which case both parties have indicated they will agree to a run-off; that race would take place three weeks after the results are announced. The Electoral Commission has already announced that the MDC defeated the ruling ZANU-PF in the parliamentary vote.

The court on Saturday postponed hearing the case [JURIST report] when MDC members were barred from entering the court. On Thursday, Zimbabwean security forces detained journalists [CPJ press release; JURIST report] working for the New York Times and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and raided offices belonging to opposition candidates. Some see both as indications that Mugabe may refuse to relinquish power if he is found to have lost last week's general election. The public reappearance on Saturday of pro-Mugabe war veterans [Independent report], with a history of violent support of the majority rule, was also seen as an intimidation tactic. Opposition parties allege that the government rigged the country's local, senate, assembly and presidential elections. Mugabe's administration has denied any improper delays in the vote count, with Electoral Commission officials attributing the lag to the task of tallying all the results together for the first time in the country's history. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Iraqi Council of Representatives [official website] will likely consider this week two new draft reform bills attempting to solidify the nation's oil law [JURIST news archive], Energy Committee Chairman Abdul-Hadi al-Hassani said Saturday. Under the first draft law, the state-run and government-funded Iraqi National Oil Company will be reestablished to operate alongside the North Oil Company and South Oil Company [official websites]. The second draft law, which calls for harsher penalties against oil smugglers ranging from jail time to the confiscation of shipping boats, is aimed at curbing the estimated $5 billion lost annually in Iraq to oil smugglers. The bills comprise part of a larger reform package intended to reorganize and better regulate the country's oil sector, as well as attempt to achieve an equitable distribution of oil revenues among the country's Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish populations.

Negotiations collapsed [JURIST report] last September over a controversial oil bill that would govern the distribution and refinement process and give the national government control over oil revenue. The fate of the bill, which the Iraqi cabinet approved [JURIST report] in February 2007, has remained in limbo as a result of a conflict between the Iraqi oil minister and officials from the Kurdish north, where most Iraqi oil is located. Sunni politicians and Iraqi national government officials have sought greater control over oil development and revenues in Iraq's Kurdish regions, while Kurdish lawmakers have resisted ceding control to Baghdad. The oil law is one of 18 benchmarks [text; JURIST report] established by the US Congress to measure US success in the Iraq mission. AP has more.

[JURIST] The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) [party website], led by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], on Sunday demanded a recount of the March 29th presidential election [JURIST report], amid opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [party website] accusations that the move is illegal. The MDC defeated ZANU-PF in the parliamentary vote, but the Electoral Commission of Zimbabwe has not yet announced a winner in the presidential election. The MDC has said that a recount has no legal basis and is a sign that Mugabe would resort to violence to stay in power.

In an appearance later Sunday, the MDC will ask the Harare High Court to immediately compel the Electoral Commission to release the election results. The MDC filed its lawsuit [JURIST report] Friday; on Saturday the Court postponed a hearing on the suit [JURIST report] when lawyers for the MDC were barred from entering the the court as armed police blocked the entrances and forced journalists to leave the area. Though no official tally has been released, independent observers say that MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangirai [BBC profile] won the most votes but likely not enough to reach the 50 percent plus one needed for outright victory. The MDC and ZANU-PF have each indicated that they may be willing to participate in a run-off [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.