Britain and South Africa's ruling party leader Jacob Zuma made a united call on Wednesday for an end to the election stalemate in Zimbabwe, stepping up pressure on President Robert Mugabe to release results.
Zuma, who has become the most outspoken African leader on Zimbabwe, held talks in London with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, one of Mugabe's harshest critics.
"We resolved on the crisis in Zimbabwe to redouble our efforts to secure early publication of election results," they said in a joint statement after their meeting.
"We call for an end to any violence and intimidation and stress the importance of respect for the sovereign people of Zimbabwe and the choice they have made at the ballot box."
No results have been announced from the March 29 presidential vote, while the outcome of a parliamentary poll is also in doubt because of partial recounts.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said he won the presidential election outright and accused Mugabe of delaying results to rig victory.
Officials from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and the MDC had each retained one constituency in the recount, the state-run Herald newspaper reported in its online version.
It quoted ZEC deputy chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana as saying the recount would end by the weekend.
ZANU-PF lost 16 of those 23 constituencies in the original count, and needs to win nine more seats to overturn the MDC's parliament victory, the first in Mugabe's 28-year rule.
The government has clearly indicated it expects a presidential runoff - necessary if neither candidate wins an absolute majority.
Zuma's backing for Brown's position over the Zimbabwe election could anger Mugabe, who accuses former colonial master Britain of plotting to oust him and sabotaging the economy with sanctions, which have failed to loosen his grip on power.
Britain called for an arms embargo on Zimbabwe while analysts dismissed as unlikely a proposal that Mugabe should lead a unity government until new polls.
The United States has led international calls for Africa to do more to end the Zimbabwe crisis. Washington's chief Africa diplomat, Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, arrived in South Africa on a previously-arranged regional tour.
