CIO gags ZEC

 Confusion, suspense and anxiety gripped the whole country as Zimbabweans

 waited for the results from a poll with very hig stakes by the ZEC had by

 5pm on Sunday failed to release even a single result despite everything

 having been put in place and the bulk of the results from all corners of

 the

 country being available and confirmed. ZEC chairman, George Chiweshe went

 on

 air around 2pm to announce that the commission was still putting results

 together and would “announce them as and when they come”. But around 4pm

 The

 Zimbabwean heard from ZEC commissioners that CIO director Happiton

 Bonoyngwe

 and his deputy Menard Muzariri had visited the national command centre at

 the Harare International Conference Centre and ordered ZEC to wait for

 further instructions and not announce any results.

 “CIO had ordered that no results shall be released by ZEC until it gives

 further instructions,” one of the two commissioners that confirmed the development said.

 “By that time the bulk of results were available ready for release in the

 council and parliamentary contests from across the whole country. Chiweshe

 had no option but to comply with the directive despite attempts to  appeal.”

 Chiweshe however insisted to this paper that “we are finishing the process

 and results shall be announced, there are no directives on this”.

 Information gleaned from the ZEC commissioners and also confirmed by MDC

 officials collecting data from polling agents across the whole country

 indicated that the main opposition party was romping to a massive victory,

 with reports suggesting it had won all House of Assembly, Senate and  council

 elections in Harare and Chitungwiza as well as all but one in Bulawayo,

 where executive member of the smaller Mutambara faction, David Coltart was

 understood to have won.

 Tsvangirai was said to have gained an early lead by getting 65% of the  vote

 with Mugabe trailing having garnered less than 30% and Makoni less than  10%.

 The directive by CIO and the suspicious behaviour of ZEC cast an ominous

 cloud over the Zimbabwean political scene coming after several threats by

 security chiefs and other Zanu (PF) thugs that in the event of Mugabe and

 Zanu (PF)’s defeat they would stage a coup. Mugabe’s spokesman, George

 Charamba was quoted as having warned that the regime viewed as a coup, the

 euphoria that had already gripped the opposition cirlces following the

 circulating of information pointing towards a victory. “We will handle  that

 the same way we handle coup plots,”

 Charamba said.

 MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa dismissed the “gimmicks by the regime and   ZEC”,

 saying “we have won the elections and if some people believe they should

 subvert the will of the people then that is up to them but we are not

 interested in stupid things”.

 Information suggests that the MDC has even posted victories in formerly 

  Zanu  (PF) strongholds, such as Mt Darwin, where Vice President Joice Mujuru was

 reportedly defeated, Masvingo, Gutu and Mudzi.