Opposition factions unite to demand Mugabe's exit

Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leaders of rival factions of the Movement for Democratic Change, have put aside their differences to call for Mugabe to step down now that the election recounts have confirmed that Mugabe has lost control of the Zimbabwean parliament for the first time in 28 years.

The opposition leaders moved fast to consolidate their gains as Mugabe's hold on power tangibly weakened. "We are here to ... say there will be no divisions among ourselves," Mutambara said at a joint press conference with Tsvangirai in South Africa.

"We are all going to work together in case Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF try to sabotage the will of the people. We are in control of parliament. We are also controlling the senate. This is the state of affairs in our country."

There is still a question over the results of the presidential election, especially as these figures have never been publicly released, however Tsvangirai is claiming that there is no need for a rerun of this election.

"The question about a runoff doesn't arise," he said. "It doesn't arise because of the simple fact that the people have spoken, the people have decided." Addressing Mugabe directly, he said: "Old man, go and have an honourable exit."

Many of us expected Mugabe to rig the recounts in order to retain control of parliament and are puzzled that he has not done so. However, this is perhaps an indication of just how deeply the dissatisfaction with Mugabe runs throughout Zimbabwean society. And, perhaps, this explains why Mugabe ordered raids on independent election monitor's offices.

The danger for Mugabe was always that discontent ran so deep that members of the army would not respond to orders to quell any uprising. It now appears that this is the case and that the people counting the votes, people who one would normally expect to respond to orders to falsify the results, have not done so.

For all the violence Mugabe has unleashed since the election, the result has still come back saying that he has lost control of parliament.

Perhaps he can now attempt to institute a coup, but are the army sufficiently behind him for to risk such an outrage? Up until now he has mostly employed his war veterans to do his dirty work for him, raising the prospect that he fears ordering the army to act lest they refuse to do so.

I don't want to get too excited too early, but things are not looking good for the old dictator.

Click title for full article.

Tags: Mugabe, Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai, elections