HARARE, ZimbabweûOfficials released a trickle of national election results evenly split Monday between Zimbabwe’s ruling party and the opposition, which accused President Robert Mugabe’s government of rigging returns to conceal a massive loss.
Zimbabwe has collapsed under Mugabe, a one-time anti-colonial hero whose mismanagement of the economy turned the breadbasket of southern Africa into a nation dependent on international food handouts, and struggling with inflation of over 100,000 percent a year, by far the world’s highest.
The economic disaster has fueled dissent among a people cowed into silence by Mugabe’s strong-arm methods over 28 years in power. Zimbabweans have begun speaking openly against Mugabe, 84, seeing the election as a last hope for the country. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Changes said vote counts it saw posted at polling stations in 128 of the country’s 210 parliamentary districts showed Tsvangirai taking 60 percent of the vote over 30 percent for Mugabe.
But Zimbabwe’s nominally independent Electoral Commission released results for only 38 races in the lower House of Assembly, giving 19 wins to the ruling party and 19 to the opposition. It said nothing about the presidential contest.
Election observers said some initial results were known as early as 11 p.m. Saturday, some four hours after polls closed. In previous elections, partial results have been announced within hours of voting ending.
Tsvangirai narrowly lost disputed 2002 elections and the opposition said it would take to the streets in peaceful protest if this year’s vote was rigged. The Movement for Democratic Change said the opposition won 96 seats of the 128 for which it had gathered results. Parliamentary and local council balloting was held alongside the presidential vote.
The Electoral Commission acknowledged that one of Mugabe’s Cabinet ministers lost his seat in a district seen as a ruling party stronghold. The slow official reporting "only goes to raise tension among the people," Movement for Democratic Change secretary-general Tendai Biti said. Biti said that if the vote were stolen, the opposition would mount peaceful protestsûnot go to the courts.
"We have election disputes still pending from 2002" in the courts, he said. "We are not going to make that mistake again. Our courts will be the people of Zimbabwe and our brothers and sisters in Africa."
Biti cautioned against resorting to violence, which he said could spark a security or military crackdown.
______ Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
About Post Author
