Mugabe loses parliamentary majority

Robert Mugabe’s grip on power appeared to be slipping further today after his party lost control of Zimbabwe’s parliament.

But despite British warnings that the country must be allowed the “democratic outcome” it had voted for, the Zanu PF regime was still refusing to cede control.

Last night the opposition Movement for Democratic Change claimed the more-than-50% support needed for its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, to take over as president.

But the southern African country’s Herald newspaper, the mouthpiece of Mr Mugabe’s government, said none of the presidential candidates had hit the threshold.

Yesterday, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission finally released results from the parliamentary elections, giving the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 105 seats.

That was exactly half the total in the 210-seat House of Assembly – with 93 for President Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party.

With one seat going to an independent, the results meant it was impossible for Zanu-PF to regain its overall majority, even if it won all the remaining seats.

There was, however, no sign of the outcome of the presidential election being announced.

The MDC claimed that results posted outside the individual polling stations showed leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, had passed the 50% threshold needed for outright victory without the need for a run-off, taking 50.3% of the vote, with 43.8% for Mr Mugabe.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there should be no more delay in publishing the official results.

“It’s very important that the election results are published as soon as possible, that there is no further delay,” he said.

“The world is watching Zimbabwe. We will be vigilant in what we do and, of course, what we want to see is that the whole of the Zimbabwean people can be guaranteed that the elections are fair and are seen to be fair and we get the democratic outcome that the people of Zimbabwe have chosen.”