Rigging fears were increasing in Zimbabwe on Tuesday three days after the election commission failed to release results from the presidential vote, in which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claims to have ousted authoritarian President Robert Mugabe.
Only partial results from the parliamentary elections that were held concomitantly with presidential and local elections on March 29 have been released, showing the opposition enjoying a slight lead over Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party.
With over half the 210 seats in the House of Assembly (lower house of Parliament) counted, Zanu-PF had 64 seats against 67 for the MDC. Of the MDC vote 62 went to Tsvangirai’s larger faction of the divided party and five for a smaller, breakaway MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara.
The slow pace of the announcement of official results, which the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) attributed to logistical difficulties, has stoked MDC suspicions that the state-controlled election body is trying to buy time while it ”fixes” the result in Mugabe’s favour.
”We will not stand for it,” said Eddie Cross, an MDC member of Parliament in Bulawayo, who retained his seat.
The MDC staked its victory claim hours after the close of polls, saying that unofficial results posted at some of the roughly 9 000 polling stations nationwide gave Tsvangirai and the party a 60% victory.
A parallel count of a sample of votes by the independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) also puts longtime opposition leader Tsvangirai in the lead, albeit without an outright majority.
ZESN estimated Tsvangirai would take 49,2% of the vote against 41,8% for Mugabe and 8,2% for a third candidate, former finance minister Simba Makoni, who ran as an independent.
If correct, the estimate, which contained a margin of error of 2,4%, could force Tsvangirai into a run-off against Mugabe, as called for by the Constitution if no candidate takes more than 50%.
Under pressure
As the results continued to trickle in international pressure grew on the electoral commission to end the tension caused by the wait.
The United States, European Union, Britain, Germany and The Netherlands all called for the results to be released without delay.
”The opportunities for mischief increase the longer the delay is between the elections and the announcement of the vote,” said US State Department deputy spokesperson Tom Casey.
In South Africa, home to between one and three million refugees from Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown, a spokesperson for the Congress for South African Trade Unions expressed concern that the ”clear evidence” of a strong MDC showing was not reflected in the official results so far.
Saturday’s vote, which got a qualified thumbs-up from two African observer missions despite widespread irregularities, was seen mainly as a vote on the economic chaos wrought by Mugabe’s populist policies, which have resulted in 100 000% inflation and widespread food, fuel and drug shortages.
Riot police in armoured carriers patrolled two of Harare’s opposition strongholds overnight and residents were told to stay off the normally bustling streets.
Mugabe has vowed to respect the wishes of Zimbabweans but also said recently the MDC would ”never” govern.
Zenzele Khumalo, a Budiriro resident, also expressed concern about the delayed results.
”I wonder why the ZEC is delaying with the final results. We are quite aware of these results since they have been made public through the pasting of the results outside the stations. What is secret now that ZEC would want to conceal so much that they keep the nation guessing?” he said.
Rights must be respected
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Tuesday that the democratic rights of Zimbabwean voters must be respected
”It’s absolutely critical that the elections are fair and are seen to be fair and I think the eyes of the world will be on Zimbabwe so that the doubts that people have, the questions that people have, can be answered,” Brown said at his monthly press conference at his Downing Street office.
”This is primarily a matter for Africans to express their views … the democratic rights of the Zimbabwean people have got to be respected and upheld, the results should be published immediately.”
Brown also said he had spoken to Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general who mediated a power-sharing agreement in Kenya after disputed elections there in December.
And he said he would speak to the head of the African Union, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, later on Tuesday. – Sapa-DPA, Sapa-AFP, CAJ