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HARARE - Zimbabwe's High Court on Wednesday nullified results for a parliamentary seat won by the main opposition party last year, state news agency Ziana reported.

The decision bucks a previous trend where the courts have overturned the victories of President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party.

"The High Court set aside on Wednesday the 2000 June parliamentary election results for Seke constituency won by Ben Tumbare-Mutasa of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)," the agency said.

High Court Judge Nicholas Ndou, acting on behalf of Judge Vernanda Ziyamba who handled the case, but has since been promoted to the Supreme Court, said 197 missing pages on the voters' roll for the area had resulted in 10,835 entitled voters being turned away during the polls, ZIANA added.

This is the first instance in which the ruling party has successfully challenged an electoral victory of the MDC, which came close to defeating ZANU-PF the ruling party at the June 2000 polls.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai posses the stiffest challenge to Mugabe's 22-year grip on power at presidential elections set for March 9-10.

The MDC originally challenged 37 parliamentary election results, of which four seats won by ZANU-PF have been overturned although the ruling party is challenging those rulings.

The courts have upheld three ZANU-PF victories, while the opposition has withdrawn a couple of challenges.

The ruling party currently holds 93 seats in the 150-member parliament, its majority bolstered by 30 presidential nominees. Nampa-Reuters