The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party beat Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party in parliamentary elections and independent projections suggest the veteran leader also lost to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the presidential election held concurrently with the vote for parliament.Â
We would hope that everybody accepts those results and that the legal constitutional process of Zimbabwe would then proceed, said Mbeki.
If indeed Morgan Tsvangirai is elected in terms of the electoral law then that would be fine. If there is to be run-off then that is fine, added Mbeki, who last year brokered talks between ZANU PF and the MDC in a bid to find a lasting solution to Zimbabwe’s crisis.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is yet to release results for the presidential poll six days after voting ended, leading to charges by the opposition and civic society group that the commission was holding on to results in a bid to fix the ballot in favour of Mugabe.
Projections by the independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network and by ZANU PF show Tsvangirai winning by less than 50 percent of the vote and under Zimbabwe’s constitution a second round ballot should be held to determine the final winner.
Tsvangirai insists he won by more than 50 percent of the vote but Mbeki told journalists in Pretoria the opposition leader told him in a telephone conversation from Harare that in the event ZEC came with a different verdict, he was prepared for a run-off against Mugabe.
While some senior ZANU PF officials have indicated Mugabe will face Tsvangirai in the run-off, the 84-year old leader has himself remained mum on the matter. Mugabe is however scheduled to chair a meeting of ZANU PF’s inner politburo cabinet that is expected to decide whether he will contest the run-off.
Political analysts say Tsvangirai could easily beat Mugabe in a run-off between the two but warn that the three-week hiatus before a new vote would spark serious violence between security forces and militia loyal to the Zimbabwean leader on one side and MDC supporters on the other.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe civic groups have petitioned the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) to pressure Mugabe’s government to urgently release the remaining results for the presidential, senate and local council elections.
The groups, among them churches, human rights lawyers, teachers, students and labour movement, also urged regional leaders to ensure Mugabe does not declare a state of emergency in a bid to defeat the people’s verdict.
The groups said in the petition earlier this week that African leaders should demand that President Mugabe and his government should allow the election results to be released immediately without being tampered with (and) exert the necessary diplomatic pressure to President Mugabe not to declare a state of emergency.
Post published in: News