Zimbabwe’s opposition demanded a strike, in an attempt to force the officials to release the results of last month’s presidential election. An election impasse began more than two weeks ago, as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission repeatedly delayed revealing results of the March 29 presidential vote.

The candidate from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, declared victory over President Robert Mugabe with 50.3 percent of the vote. However, Mugabe’s government declined to announce final results from the contest. The strike was called by opposition leaders, after Zimbabwe’s High Court ruled that it would not force the electoral commission to release the results.

The ruling was a rejection of a petition filed on April 4 by the MDC. According to the MDC secretary general, Tendai Biti, the MDC wants to appeal the ruling in the Supreme Court, CNN reports.

Biti blamed Zimbabwe’s ruling party Tuesday of unleashing an “orgy of violence” across the country. He told CNN that two of MDC’s supporters had been killed and more than 200 wounded. Biti accused militia from the party of Mugabe, claiming it was roaming the country burning homes, and he expressed his concerns regarding a potential massacre without international intervention.

“It's the kind of inaction that gave rise to over a million people dead in July of 1994 in Rwanda,” Biti said quoted by CNN. “I guess they are again waiting for graves in Zimbabwe before they start responding,” he added.

ZANU-PF leader Mugabe ruled uninterrupted since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980. His image suffered a huge deterioration due to the former British colony’s high rate of inflation. In Zimbabwe, the unemployment level reached the 80 percent mark.