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Mugabe's Zanu-PF ahead
01/04/2008 10:49 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's ruling party edged ahead of the main opposition on Tuesday with over half of parliamentary election results released and concerns grew that President Robert Mugabe was trying to rig the vote.
Riot police in armoured carriers patrolled two of Harare's opposition strongholds overnight and residents were told to stay off the normally bustling streets.
Three days after the most important vote since independence, only 109 out of 210 parliamentary constituencies had been declared, showing the ruling Zanu-PF two seats ahead of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
No results had been announced for the presidential vote, in which Mugabe faced the most formidable political challenge of his 28 years in power - from old rival Morgan Tsvangirai and ruling party defector Simba Makoni.
Economic disaster
The opposition MDC said it won according to its own tally and had accused the veteran leader of delaying the issuing of the results in a bid to steal the election, which Zimbabweans hoped would ease daily hardships.
Zimbabweans were suffering the world's highest inflation of more than 100 000%, food and fuel shortages, and an HIV/Aids epidemic that had contributed to a steep decline in life expectancy. Mugabe's foes blamed him for the economic disaster.
"It is now clear that there is something fishy. The whole thing is suspicious and totally unacceptable," MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said.
Mugabe had denied rigging the election and his government warned that any early victory claim would be regarded as an attempted coup.
An independent Zimbabwean election-monitoring group forecast Tsvangirai, leader of the largest faction of the MDC, would win the most votes in the presidential poll, but not by a big enough margin to avoid a second round.
EU urged ZEC to release results soon
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) said its projections gave him 49.4%. It predicted Mugabe would win 41.8% and Makoni would get 8.2%.
Tsvangirai was due to hold a news conference at 08:00, his first since voting ended.
Seven European countries and the United States called on Zimbabwe's Electoral Commission to quickly release the results.
Slovenia, which held the European Union Presidency, also called for a speedy release of the results. "This would end the current uncertainty and prevent the risk of rising tensions," the EU presidency said in a statement.
Electoral Commission chairperson George Chiweshe said the slow pace was due to the complexity of holding presidential, parliamentary and local polls together for the first time.
Although the odds seemed stacked against Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, analysts believed his iron grip on the country and solid backing from the armed forces could enable him to ignore the results and declare victory.
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