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'Mugabe is going nowhere'
02/04/2008 18:15 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's ruling party lost control of parliament on Wednesday and the opposition said it had also defeated veteran leader Robert Mugabe in a presidential vote.
Official figures said the combined opposition had taken 105 seats in the 210 seat parliament with one going to an independent. Mugabe's Zanu-PF has so far taken 94.
The mainstream Movement of Democratic Change faction of Morgan Tsvangirai said he had won 50.3% of the presidential vote and Mugabe 43.8% according to its own tallies of results posted outside polling stations. MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said this absolute majority was enough for outright victory but Tsvangirai would accept a second round runoff against Mugabe "under protest".
Biti appealed to Mugabe, president for the last 28 years, to concede defeat and avoid "embarrassment".
Mugabe, 84, faced an unprecedented challenge in Saturday's elections because of the economic collapse of his once prosperous country.
His government immediately rejected the MDC victory claim as "mischievous".
Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told Sky News: "President Mugabe is going nowhere. We are not going to be pressurised into anything."
Coup d'etat
The government has warned that victory claims before an official result would be regarded as a coup d'etat.
Matonga said: "No-one is panicking around President Mugabe. The army is very solidly behind our president, the police force as well.
"We are not going to be rushed by anybody. They can make statements left right and centre, but they are merely wasting their time."
No official results of the presidential poll have been issued four days after the election and Mugabe has not been seen in public since voting, despite speculation he would make a television address on Tuesday night.
Biti's announcement indicated a change in the MDC position in accepting a second round runoff against Mugabe. Tsvangirai said on Tuesday he had won outright.
Runoff
Mugabe's government appears to have been preparing the population for a runoff by revealing its own projections showing a second round would be required in the statutory three weeks after last Saturday's vote.
Both Tsvangirai and the government have dismissed widespread speculation that the MDC was negotiating with Zanu-PF for a managed exit for Mugabe, who has ruled uninterrupted since independence from Britain in 1980.
The state-owned Herald newspaper said on Wednesday projections for the presidential election showed Mugabe would fail to win an outright majority for the first time in nearly three decades.
The prospect of a runoff has raised fears both inside and outside Zimbabwe that the hiatus before a new vote would spark serious violence between security forces and militia loyal to Mugabe on one side and MDC supporters on the other.
- Reuters
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Zimbabwe Special Report
