10 000 votes 'out of nowhere'
2005-04-01 12:45
Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic change won 31 of the first 39 parliamentary seats declared on Friday, but it said it now expects to lose seats overall and charged the government was manipulating release of the results.
The seats won so far by the MDC in Thursday's parliamentary elections were largely in the opposition's urban strongholds. There was no word yet on how the party fared in rural areas where President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front has its strongest support.
"If you look back to the 2000 election, Zanu-PF has a strategy of first announcing election results in MDC strongholds so they can wink at the world and say look how free and fair we are," said MDC spokeswoman Miriam Mushaye.
A ruling party official predicted on Friday that the party would win almost of the remaining seats.
Mugabe's nephew, ruling party candidate Patrick Zhawao, was declared the winner in Manyame, 40km south-west of Harare, in a what the MDC said was a sign of things to come.
Election officials announced last night that 14 812 people voted in that constituency. But early on Friday, they changed the total to 24 000 and said Zhawao got more than 15 000 votes. Election commission officials refused to comment on the discrepancy.
"I won. I was leading. Suddenly I hear about 24 000 votes and I don't know there the extra 10 000 came from," said losing MDC candidate Hilda Mafudze. "It is the first example of what we are going to start seeing from here on. We are going to get less seats this time."
Mafudze said the winner was declared even though MDC polling agents refused to sign the tabulation, as required by the electoral rules.
The election for 120 contested seats in Zimbabwe's parliament was largely peaceful, but opposition leaders and independent observers said the vote was skewed in favour of Mugabe's ruling party, accused of intimidating voters ahead of the poll.
Turnout figures were not available early Friday.
Charges in recent days that intimidation was rife, the electoral roll had been tampered with and large numbers were unable to cast ballots set the stage for a fierce debate over the results.
"We are not happy with the way the electoral playing field has been organised, and I think we all agree, on all benchmarks, this is not going to be a free and fair election," opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said after he voted on Thursday.
Under international pressure to produce a credible result, Mugabe's government and party ratcheted down the bloodletting that has plagued previous elections. For the first time in years, Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party was able to campaign openly, even in the government's rural strongholds.
Mugabe was confident on Thursday the gamble would pay off, saying he was "entirely, completely, totally optimistic" of victory for his party.
- AP