Faced with 80 percent unemployment and six-digit inflation, almost one third of Zimbabwe's 13 million population have left the country, to find both work and food as even basics such as bread and cooking oil are now hard to come by.
While the high court held back from ordering the electoral commission to immediately release the results of the March 29 poll, Justice Tendai Uchena said he would consider the application on an urgent basis.
"I find that the application is urgent and the case should proceed," Justice Tendai Uchena ruled, paving the way for a full hearing as a priority, though it was not immediately clear when.
The electoral commission had argued that the matter was both beyond the court's jurisdiction and that the petition should not be considered as urgent.
Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party has already called for a complete recount of the poll even before the release of results and authorities have arrested seven election officials for allegedly undercounting votes cast for the