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'Beaten Mugabe under pressure'
03/04/2008 16:40 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabweans were eagerly awaiting the results of last weekend's presidential vote on Thursday after final official results from concomitant parliamentary elections showed President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party soundly beaten by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
Final official results from 210-seat House of Assembly (lower house of parliament) election showed the MDC taking 109 seats against 97 for Mugabe's Zanu-PF.
Independent candidate, former information minister, Jonathan Moyo took a seat and three others were vacant, where the candidates died before the election and a by-election must be held.
Of the MDC vote, 99 were taken by the largest party faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai. The remaining 10 went to a smaller breakaway faction, led by Arthur Mutambara, an academic.
MDC declares Tsvangirai victorious
Five days after the elections the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission had yet to release results from the presidential vote. Analysts had predicted a stinging defeat for Mugabe given his party's result.
The MDC had already declared Morgan Tsvangirai victorious with 50.3% of the vote based on its own unofficial vote count.
If confirmed, there would be no need for a runoff vote between Tsvangirai and Mugabe being talked up in state-run media required, if no candidate took more than 50% plus one ballot.
Saturday's elections, which got a qualified thumbs-up from African observers despite the presence of police in polling stations and other irregularities, was seen mainly as a vote on the economic chaos wrought by Mugabe's policies, which had resulted in 100 000% inflation and brought millions to the brink of starvation.
Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.
Sapa-dpa
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