ZANU PF playing dirty tricks on Zimbabweans

The move follows claims by government

officials to have seen an as yet unreleased official tally of the March 29

presidential vote. It suggests the leader of the opposition, Morgan

Tsvangirai, won 47 percent of the vote, followed closely by President Mugabe

with 43 percent, and independent candidate Simba Makoni trailing the two

with ten percent of the vote. ZANU-PF partisans say it is apparent nobody

won the election and are demanding a run-off.

But the opposition is dismissing the ruling party’s claims. The electoral

commission is expected to release the rest of the vote count today in

Harare. MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa tells reporter Peter Clottey of the

voice of america the ruling

party is playing dirty tricks on Zimbabweans in order to cling to power.

“It is totally a distortion of the truth on the ground. As far as we are

concerned, as far as the facts and the truth is concerned the MDC won well

above the 50 percent threshold and the 47 percent being touted by the

so-called sources within government is just an attempt by ZANU-PF to prepare

people in terms of mindset and a frame of a sort that there is going to be a

run-off, which in fact again is an artificial result, which has been caused

by the ZANU-PF,” Chamisa pointed out.

He said the opposition parties as well as ordinary Zimbabweans are calling

on the international community to help resolve the economic and political

crisis.

“We definitely need multinational approach to the resolution of the crisis.

Certainly, the resolution lies within our borders, but we need international

help, with international support and solidarity to resolve all the issues.

We have a very serious dictatorship in Zimbabwe, which is prepared to

decimate the entire population for the sake of power. It is really important

for the region, SADC (Southern African Development Community), for the

continent, the AU (African Union) to continue putting a helping hand on the

Zimbabwe problems and to keep an open eye on the behavior and attitude of

this regime,” he said.

Chamisa said the circumstances in the country are dire.

“The situation is out of control. It is now a humanitarian crisis. This is

now a conflict crisis, which has just gone beyond the level during the

elections. We are almost in the league of Iraq; we are in the league of

Darfur and an almost a genocidal campaign against opposition supporters. The

situation has to stop before it gets out of hand. Otherwise, we are going to

have a bloodbath. And this regime is a vampire regime. It survives on

vampire instincts, sucking blood and wanting to liquidate individuals,”

Chamisa noted.

He dismissed ridiculous assertions that people around President Mugabe are

the cause of the problems rather than the veteran leader.

“That could be true, but at the end of the day, the bottom line is that

President Mugabe has served the country for such a long period. His service

to the country should just be acknowledged. We acknowledge that he has risen

to the extent that he did what he could, but of course it is not enough,

because Zimbabweans are suffering. What he should do is honorably exit the

political stage and leave those who are young and who have new ideas to run

the country,” he said.

Meanwhile President Mugabe’s government is calling the United Nations