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Poll in Zimbabwe: What is
cooking?
Dr Abdul Ruff
Zimbabwe, a state in Southern Africa, went to poll on March 29.
Zimbabweans cast ballots for president, parliament and local councils.
Preliminary official results were expected by 31 March, but no results
have been made available officially so far. There has been national
uproar on the slow process of counting. The election officials say that
since Presidential, House of Assembly, Senate and local elections were
held simultaneously, the results have been slow to come. Local results
have been posted outside most polling stations since morning of March
30, but the parliamentary and presidential results are allegedly held
backm creating suspecion in the national consciousness.
Yet, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party claimed an early lead in the
general election, based on the first unofficial returns from Saturday’s
vote. The secretary-general of the Movement for Democratic Change,
Tendai Biti, told a news conference: “we have won this election.” He
said MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was projected to win about 66 percent
of the vote in the capital of Harare - an opposition stronghold.
Tsvanigirai is one of two candidates who ran against Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe in the election. The manner in which results for
parliamentary constituencies are balanced 50-50 between the MDC and Zanu
PF, it will raise eyebrows,” he said. “It’s still not clear that the
election results are fixed but there are definitely reasons to be
concerned.”
Mugabe faced a challenge from former ruling party member having support
of a part of security personnel, Simba Makoni, reducing his winning
chances. With the Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, a senior member of
Mugabe’s government, losing his seat in the opposition eastern
stronghold of Manicaland, it looked the birth of a new era in Zimbabwe
was on cards.
The unofficial announcement of results defied a government warning that
an early victory announcement is illegal. Official presidential results
have not been published, but Tsvangirai’s party says he won and the
delay is to allow the outcome to be rigged. In the presidential race,
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said that unofficial
tallies showed its leader Morgan Tsvangirai had 60 per cent of the vote
against 30% for President Robert Mugabe. If none of the presidential
candidates wins more than 50 percent of the votes, a runoff will be held
between the top two contenders.
An independent monitoring group says the ruling Zanu-PF and the
opposition are level in the parliamentary vote and the opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai got 49% of the vote - just short of the 50% needed to
avoid a run-off. Zanu-PF has 53 parliamentary seats, while the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has 56 in total, with
101 seats still not declared, according to official results. Five of the
opposition seats have gone to a breakaway faction of the MDC. Zimbabwe
Election Support Network (ZESN) said Mugabe came second in the
presidential race with 42%, while independent candidate Simba Makoni on
8%. It based its projected results on a sample of 435 of the 9,000
polling stations, which it says were analyzed by independent
statisticians. If correct, these results would mean a run-off would be
required within three weeks. An independent monitoring group says
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai got 49% of the vote - just short of
the 50% needed to avoid a run-off. Tsvangirai’s party says he won and
the delay is to allow the outcome to be rigged. Mugabe has been in power
since 1980, when they got freedom from the UK. Thirty years later,
Mugabe sees foreign conspiracy to oust him.
The opposition MDC accused Mugabe of rigging the vote, saying its
election agents were barred from some polling stations. Observers also
said election workers turned away thousands of people whose names did
not appear on registered voter lists. African election monitors from the
Pan-African Parliament wrote a letter to Zimbabwe’s election commission
saying voter rolls in Harare appeared to be inflated.
The international community has urged Zimbabwe to give the results soon.
Foreign ministers from 7 European Union countries “called on the
Zimbabwean Electoral Commission to swiftly announce all official
election results, especially the results of the presidential election”.
USA said the vote should be counted honestly to reflect the will of the
people. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the eyes of the world were
on Zimbabwe. Mugabe has insisted that the vote would be free and fair
and rejected all rigging allegations, saying his conscience does not
allow him to cheat. Mugabe has led the African nation since independence
in 1980. He dismisses his opponents as stooges of former colonial power
Britain. Mugabe’s challengers say Zimbabwe needs new leadership
following an economic collapse that has seen inflation rise above
100,000 percent and unemployment running at 80 percent.
After exercising their franchise, Zimbabweans are now feel frustrated
and anxiously awaiting more results from Saturday’s election, which have
been slow to emerge. British ambassador to the United Nations said that
if the elections herald a change of leadership, “there would be a huge
groundswell of support for a new government prepared to address the
fundamental problems that exist in Zimbabwe”. Riot police have been
patrolling the capital, Harare, and other urban areas and residents have
been told to stay indoors. There were some army units on the streets but
there was no major deployment. It seems the initial optimism that change
is coming is evaporating.
Zimbabwe is pretty confused as to what would happen now. Reports suggest
that the streets of the capital, Harare, have been quiet, but security
in parts of the city is tight. But the mood is turning from elation to
despondency as the delay in releasing the full results drag on. A Zanu-PF
spokesman says Mugabe, one of the most important leaders of Africa, is
headed for re-election but would accept defeat. Rumors have circulated
as people await results, and government has been forced to deny
speculation that Mugabe had gone to Malaysia or was planning to impose a
state of emergency.
With the final results hanging in the air, Zimbabwe is likely to slip
into chaos and turmoil with resultant violence and killings. But it is
the duty of the government to disallow that impasse to surface by
promptly announcing the results and if none has got the required 50
votes to be the president, a re-poll be announced immediately for the
top two candidates to contest as per the Constitution.
