Zimbabwe: 2007 till Mugabe resigns

[Stan]

Interesting this latest report from the BBC regarding the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Poll Monitors

Western observers were banned from the election.

...Poll monitors from the SADC said the elections had been "peaceful and credible".

But two SADC members from South Africa refused to sign a generally positive preliminary report of the mission, with one of them calling the polls "deeply flawed".

"It is called a coup d'etat and we all know how coups are handled."

A British Foreign Office minister, Mark Malloch-Brown, said it was "quite likely" that President Mugabe had lost the election in Zimbabwe, despite "massive pre-election day cheating".

VOA News - Zimbabwe Election Support Network
Few Turn Up at Many Rural Polling Stations in Zimbabwean Vote

The independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network says that voter turnout has been good so far.

However, some commentators said they were surprised to see that so few voters lined up in rural areas where 60 percent of the population lives.

Substantial numbers of voters were turned away, perhaps as much as 15 percent, said one independent election observer Saturday.

The opposition to Mr. Mugabe has said it expects widespread rigging. But Mr. Mugabe has said his conscience does not allow him to cheat.

[Stan]

Zimbabwe stands 'on a precipice'

"Leading Movement for Democratic Change official Tendai Biti says party leader Morgan Tsvangirai has won 60% of the vote, against 30% for Robert Mugabe."

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa has lost his seat, east of Harare.

Public Affairs Minister Chen Chimutengwende has also lost his seat.

A senior Zanu-PF source has told a BBC contributor that security officials met on Sunday to decide who should tell Mr Mugabe he had lost, with some refusing to take the job.

[Tom Odom]

now we get down to waiting to see what kind of electoral rabbit Mugabe pulls out of his hat...

MDC claims it is heading for clear victory over Mugabe in Zimbabwe election

Zimbabwe's main opposition party claimed today to be heading to a clear victory over Robert Mugabe after presidential and parliamentary elections.

Official results from Saturday's only trickled out, however, prompting accusations that the veteran President was trying to fix the poll results in a desperate bid to cling to power.

With 24 of the 210 parliamentary seats so far declared by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF was level-pegging with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Morgan Tsvangirai, on 12 seats each.

No official figures were given for the presidential contest.

[Stan]

The folks at The Institute for War and Peace Reporting now claim.....

Official sources say he will claim to have won presidential poll despite clearly losing to Tsvangirai.

By Joseph Sithole in Harare (AR No. 163, 31-Mar-08)
In what can best be described as a shock result, President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party are about to announce victory for Mugabe in the parliamentary and presidential elections, according to unofficial results leaked from the ZANU-PF and Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, ZEC, command centres.

But sources within the ZEC centre - newly christened the National Collation Centre - say Mugabe clearly lost the election to his opposition rival Morgan Tsvangirai, polling only 20 per cent of the vote.

...But commentators say it would be something of a miracle if Mugabe and his party had secured the victory, given more than 85 per cent unemployment, serious food shortages and a collapsed health delivery system.

Some of the ruling party’s heavyweights that have fallen include Minister of Women Affairs Oppah Muchunguri, Agriculture Minister Joseph Made, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Minister of Energy and Power Development Mike Nyambuya, and Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu.

There are already reports coming from the United States saying sanctions, currently targeted at Mugabe and his close associates, would be intensified if the ballot were not free and fair. The same is likely to come from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other western countries.

But what is more worrying now is how Zimbabweans are going to receive the result, especially after the MDC has been saying it “has won this election beyond any reasonable doubt”.

[davidbfpo]

Key Sites for Election Updates and Commentary:

Sokwanele Civic Action Support Group http://www.sokwanele.com Has detailed updates both from Zimbabwe Election Commission(official) and Parallel Voting Tabulation (unofficial)

AllAfrica http://allafrica.com/zimbabwe
Kubatana http://www.kubatana.net
SW Radio Africa http://www.swradioafrica.com
Google Maps Mashup on Election Rigging Reports http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/767

[Stan]

Zimbabwe Election Support Network...

Mugabe got 41.8 percent of the vote, compared with 49.4 percent for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. An independent, Simba Makoni, got 8 percent...

If confirmed, the monitor group's numbers would push Mugabe and Tsvangirai into a runoff vote -- something analysts have long said would consolidate opposition to the president and hasten the end of his rule. Zimbabwe election laws require that a winning candidate get more than 50 percent of the vote. The new election likely would be April 19.

[davidbfpo]

On a BBC Radio 4 interview, Martin Rupiah, ex-Zimbabwe Army colonel, now living in South Africa, commented that the slow release of the results was designed to bring out protestors out onto the street, where the loyal security forces, or certain parts of them, would crush them.

davidbfpo