Zimbabwe election 'heading for re-run'

Zimbabwe’s presidential election is increasingly likely to be decided by a second round of voting, it emerged today.

In the clearest sign yet that Robert Mugabe accepts he has not won the first ballot outright, the state newspaper The Herald said results were close but neither Mugabe nor opponent Morgan Tsvangirai had a clear majority.

The Herald is generally seen as a mouthpiece for Mugabe’s government.

However Mr Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) continued to insist it won an outright victory, and threatened to publish its own figures if full results from Saturday’s presidential and parliamentary elections were not released quickly.

Independent monitors and Western governments say election results show the MDC won a comfortable majority and there are fears Mugabe wants a re-run so he can ensure the voting is rigged fully in his favour this time.

The Herald’s article said: “The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission yesterday released more election results with indications that ZANU-PF and the MDC Tsvangirai faction are headed for a tie in the House of Assembly poll, while the pattern of results in the presidential election shows that none of the candidates will garner more than 50 percent of the vote, forcing a re-run.”

Some opponents suspected that Mugabe loyalists were trying to buy time to rig results, even as people close to the electoral commission and the opposition reported secret negotiations to allow Mugabe to exit gracefully.

In campaigning, 84-year-old Mugabe had likened the elections to a boxing match, with his party winning in a knockout. Mugabe has been silent since the vote.

Mr Tsvangirai, 56, said yesterday he was waiting on an official announcement of results before he would enter any discussions with Mugabe. He claimed to have won more than the 50% plus one vote needed for a first-round victory.

But sources close to the electoral commission and the MDC said the two men’s aides were negotiating a way for Mugabe to hand over power, claims publicly denied by Mr Tsvangirai.

Tensions rose as people stayed away from work to await results. A senior police officer warned on state radio: “Our forces are more than ready to deal with perpetrators of violence.”

Paramilitary police stepped up patrols in Harare and Bulawayo, the second city, and checked vehicles at roadblocks leading to the capital. Police ordered bottle stores and beer halls to shut early.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, a Nobel peace laureate, said he feared violence.

“I would be very fearful of demonstrations ... given the brutality with which the authorities have in the past reacted,” he said.

“Many, many people are angry. I doubt that they are just going to sit back and fold their arms. They are going to take to the streets ...”

The electoral commission source said Mugabe was told there could be an uprising if he was declared winner. He said Mugabe also was told he may face a run-off, but that the prospect was too humiliating, prompting him to consider ceding power.

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network, a coalition of 38 civil society organisations, said its random representative sample of polling stations showed Tsvangirai won just over 49% of the vote and Mugabe 42%. Simba Makoni, a former Mugabe loyalist whose rebellion brought divisions among the elite into the open, trailed at about 8%.

In the parliamentary elections running alongside the race for the presidency, the Electoral Commission has released results for 188 of the 210 seats – giving the MDC 96 and Mugabe’s party 92.

The commission has offered no results in the presidential race, saying it still was receiving ballot boxes from the provinces. That raised questions about where those boxes have been since Saturday night, when some electoral officials slept on the ground to guard the votes.