I’m very apprehensive

Whatever the truth is, it has not been good for the credibility of these elections. Even the African Union observer mission said as much yesterday (Sunday).
The delay in announcing the results is unprecedented. For all elections since 1980 the results have begun to be announced as they came in – starting a few hours after polling closed and continuing through the night and the next day. The information gap from Saturday night until 7am this morning has given rise to considerable insecurity and wild rumours of rigging, coup plots and uprisings. The state-controlled mead resorted to re-screening old soccer matches as its planned schedule was disrupted by ZEC’s inexplicable silence. The last official footage I saw of the ZEC was SABC coverage on Sunday morning showing the chairman, George Chiweshe, fleeing the Harare hotel where the MDC was announcing the results pinned up at individual polling stations. Journalists were in hot pursuit. He has not been seen since.
I am convinced elaborate rigging has taken place. By 4pm Monday ZEC had officially announced results for 38 constituencies – claiming 19 each for MDC and Zanu (PF) and nothing for Makoni or Mutambara so far. The MDC says these results tally with its own in all areas except one, which is will contest.
This careful manipulation  – and behind-the-scenes waiting for results to fit the neck-and-neck pattern – is painfully obvious.
However, by early this morning the MDC’s polling agents had released results for more than 100 constituencies, using figures posted outside the various polling stations by the returning officers using ZEC stationery.
My own reading of this is that Mugabe and Zanu (PF) have been crushed and are reeling from the extent of the MDC landslide in both urban and rural areas.
Mugabe really believed his elaborate rigging machine would deliver the votes – as it has done in the past.
The only difference this time is that, as a result of the SADC-initiated negotiations, the poll results for individual polling stations have been posted outside the individual stations.
I have not been surprised to see, from these results released so far, the breakaway faction of the MDC, led by Arthur Mutambara, has been almost totally wiped out.
They always claimed strong in Matabeleland, but haven’t won a single seat in Bulawayo – apart from the popular David Coltart who won his senate seat.
This really means there is now only one MDC again. Many journalists and political observers got this wrong – they believed the split would be a major factor. But the result show that the people of Zimbabwe were never confused by the split. Morgan Tsvangirai has always carried the people with him.
Many also thought Simba Makoni was a spoiler who would split the opposition vote. But all he managed to do was split the Zanu (PF) vote – capturing a few seats in rural Matabeleland.
The Mugabe regime did its utmost to control the flow of information throughout the election period. International journalists with the exception of a few tame organisations like Al Jazeera, were refused accreditation. Observer teams were limited to friendly nations and groupings. They are all now looking increasingly embarrassed and starting to murmur.
Hat’s off to the state broadcasting corporation of South Africa, SABC, they have done a creditable job of covering the elections impartially and thoroughly. Zimbabweans at home as well as throughout the region have been glued to SABC news through the weekend.
In a final show of Zanu (PF) deceit and incompetence, news reached me this afternoon (monday) that, after promising massive salary increases to civil servants in return for loyalty at the polls, when they checked their bank statements on Monday morning they found that the promised windfall had not materialised.
I guess this is just one more Zanu disaster for the new administration to sort out! 
 
Observers friendly. Even they were embarrassed by suppression of results. One of them announced on SATV – this sort of thing could cause Kenya style violence.
Sabc done a good job – etv excluded.  On the whole sabc did a decent job and quoted the results as released by the MDC – dida good job of informing zimbabseasn – thank goodness for sat dishes  – zims glued to sabc – at home and throghut sa. And Botswana. 

(Article first appeared in the Guardian UK)