Mugabe ready to contest run-off
It's not looking good in Zimbabwe. All indications are that Mugabe will now seek a second ballot over the presidency, a ballot that will probably be mired in violence.
It is obvious from the lack of published results that Mugabe has lost the election, and one had hoped that a lear jet leaving Zimbabwe with Mugabe on board was the way this situation was going to resolve itself. Sadly, it looks like the old bastard is going to see this through to the finishing line, with all the violence and intimidation that has epitomised his time in power once again becoming evident.Robert Mugabe and hardliners in the ruling Zanu-PF party decided yesterday to contest a run-off presidential vote if there is no outright winner from last week's election, raising fears of a bloody fight to the finish by Zimbabwe's president.
A week after the presidential election there is still no sign of the official results being released, raising suspicions that the election commission is waiting for political direction on whether the final count should make a run-off necessary.
The MDC claims that its candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, won an outright victory with more than 50% of the vote based on polling station returns. However, the party said it was prepared to contest a second round and would "crush" Mugabe, who took only four out of 10 votes in last week's election, according to its count.
But the MDC said it feared that the campaign would be marked by war veterans and Zanu-PF militias unleashing violence and intimidation against MDC supporters, which was absent before last week's vote but a widespread tactic in previous elections. "I think a second round will be bloody," said Theresa Makone, a newly elected MDC MP. "People will be bludgeoned into submission."
There is no way that Mugabe can win any second ballot without violence, intimidation and blatant electoral rigging, but he's apparently going to go for it anyway.Hundreds of war veterans marched through Harare yesterday and vowed to "defend the country's sovereignty", taken to be a warning to the opposition, who are accused of being "British puppets" intending to return farms to their white former owners. "The election has been seen as a way to reopen the invasion of our people by whites," said the veterans' militant leader, Jabulani Sibanda. "A good number of white people have been seen proclaiming victory for their candidate Morgan Tsvangirai."
Zanu-PF's administration secretary, Didymus Mutasa, said a five-hour meeting of the party's politburo endorsed the run-off. He declined to give details but the leadership has been divided since a meeting of Mugabe's security cabinet on Sunday night decided not to admit defeat.
Mutasa also accused the MDC of bribing electoral officials and said Zanu-PF would challenge the results in 16 seats in the lower house of parliament, enough to overturn the MDC's six-seat majority which offered the prospect of an end to 28 years of Zanu-PF control.
Results trickling in for the 60 seats in the largely ceremonial upper house of parliament, the senate, give Zanu-PF 21 seats to a total of 22 for two MDC factions.
One gets the feeling that for the past six days the Zanu-PF have been winded by the results, which is why they have been so silent, and that they have now regrouped and decided on their battle plans.
Sadly for everyone they have decided to battle on, against the will of the Zimbabwean people, and they will now do everything in their power to overturn the democratic wishes of the people of Zimbabwe.
It's the worst possible outcome. This will end in tears.
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