Zimbabwe stands 'on a precipice'

[frigidmagi]

BBC

Zimbabwe is standing on a "precipice" as official results from Saturday's general election start to trickle in, the opposition has said.

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

Official results show both sides have 26 parliamentary seats so far. Mr Biti says the results are being rigged.

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

Public Affairs Minister Chen Chimutengwende has also lost his seat in Mazowe, seen as a stronghold for President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.

Local results have been posted outside most polling stations since Sunday morning.

One seat has gone to a breakaway faction of the MDC, according to official results.

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told the BBC his party had won 99 of the 210 parliamentary seats, against 96 for Zanu-PF and 15 for other opposition parties, based on his party's final figures.


ELECTION RESULTS SO FAR
Parliamentary constituencies
MDC-Tsvangirai: 25
Zanu-PF: 26
Breakway MDC faction: 1
Yet to declare: 158
Presidential results
None so far
Winner needs more than 50% to avoid run-off
Source: ZEC

Results according to MDC:
Morgan Tsvangirai, MDC: 60%
Robert Mugabe, Zanu-PF: 30%
MDC 99 parliamentary seats
Zanu-PF 96
Other opposition 15

Delays add to fraud fears
Zimbabwe votes: At a glance
Election day: In quotes

Mr Biti said the electoral commission was planning to announce that Mr Mugabe had won 52% of the vote - just enough to avoid a run-off. The MDC would not accept these results, he said.

Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga denied the polls would be rigged and said the president would accept defeat.

"We don't expect to lose... It's going to be a very tight contest and if he loses, you have to accept," he told the BBC.

Mr Matonga also denied rumours that Mr Mugabe had gone to Malaysia or was planning to impose a state of emergency.

Riot police have been patrolling the capital, Harare, and other urban areas and residents have been told to stay indoors.

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.

In the southern town of Masvingo, MDC supporters have reportedly stopped celebrating since reports came in that Zanu-PF had won in areas initially believed to have gone to the opposition.

'Meticulous'

Presidential, House of Assembly, Senate and local elections were all held on Saturday, and election officials say that this is why results have been slow to come.

Zimbabweans read draft election results posted at a polling station in Harare on 30 March 2008
Draft results were posted outside polling stations

"It's an absolute necessity that all results be meticulously analysed at this stage," George Chiweshe, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, said earlier.

But Noel Kututwa, the head of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, said: "The delay in announcing these results is fuelling speculation that there could be something going on."

Poll monitors from the Southern African Development Community (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".

Western observers were banned from the election but a European Union spokesman urged the ZEC to announce the results to "avoid unnecessary speculation".

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband says that after millions of Zimbabweans had voted "their voice must now be heard without delay".

A new monitoring group, the Independent Results Centre, backs up the MDC's claims of victory, saying Mr Tsvangirai has won 55% of the vote in the presidential race, against 37% for Mr Mugabe and 5% for independent candidate Simba Makoni.

'Coup d'etat'

Mr Chamisa said that MDC polling agents had been chased away from some polling stations on election day, which later recorded huge Zanu-PF victories.

He pointed to the case of Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe constituency east of Harare, where the Zanu-PF candidate received 15,000 votes against 2,000 for the MDC.

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This delay is getting people agitated, we are all wondering what is going on

Blessing, Harare
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Of the seats declared so far, both parties have done well in their traditional strongholds - Zanu-PF in rural areas and the MDC in towns and cities.

But Zanu-PF has won one seat in Harare, while the MDC has gained six rural seats, including that of Mr Chinamasa.

The BBC's Grant Ferrett in Johannesburg says Mr Chinamasa has been an energetic and loyal supporter of Mr Mugabe, pushing through his land redistribution progamme in defiance of court rulings.

Government spokesman George Charamba warned the MDC against claiming victory before official results are announced.

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

After voting in Harare, Mr Mugabe, 84, who has been in power since 1980, said: "We don't rig elections. I cannot sleep with my conscience if I have rigged."

The MDC says it is fighting to save Zimbabwe's economy.

The country has the world's highest inflation rate, at more than 100,000%, and just one adult in five is believed to have a regular job