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Unity govt 'best for Zim'
23/04/2008 13:35 - (SA)
Susan Njanji
Harare - A unity government led by President Robert Mugabe may be the best way to break Zimbabwe's post-election deadlock, state media said on Wednesday, as the first result from a recount of votes was declared.
While Mugabe's Zanu-PF party triumphed in the first of 23 constituencies holding a recount from the March 29 polls, the state-run Herald newspaper said it was clear no side would win a majority in the presidential election and the best way forward therefore was to form a government of national unity.
"The Zimbabwe government and independent international observers agreed that the just-ended harmonised elections did not produce an outright winner in the presidential race. It is unlikely the ongoing recount will substantively alter that position," said an opinion piece in the government mouthpiece.
"Accordingly, it stands to reason that the transitional government of national unity ... should be led by the incumbent president."
MDC wrest control of 210 seats
Twenty-five days had now passed since the country held joint parliamentary and presidential elections, and the outcome of both ballots still remained up in the air.
While the election commission had given no word on the outcome of the presidential poll, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change had initially wrested control of the 210-seat parliament from Zanu-PF.
But even that result could now be reversed as the commission recounted votes in 23 constituencies, all but two of which were initially said to have returned an MDC candidate to parliament.
In the first constituency to complete its recount, Goromonzi West, Zanu-PF was confirmed the winner and only needed to reverse the result in seven of the other seats under the microscope in order to regain control of parliament.
The opposition had denounced the recount process as a ploy by Mugabe to steal back control of parliament and said the delay to the result of the presidential election was also intended to buy a defeated regime more time.
National unity government
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who had already declared himself the outright winner over 84-year-old Mugabe, was in Mozambique on Wednesday as part of his ongoing quest to build up diplomatic pressure on his longstanding rival to stand down.
He held meetings in the morning with former president Joaquim Chissano and was due to meet in the afternoon with President Armando Guebuza.
Tsvangirai had also floated the idea of a national unity government but with himself, rather than Mugabe, at its helm.
The MDC leader had accused Mugabe of human rights abuses and of having led the one-time regional model to economic rack and ruin.
At independence from Britain in 1980, when Mugabe began his marathon 28 years in power, the country was the bread basket of the region.
However, it had the world's highest rate of inflation - officially put at 165 000% but believed to be several times higher - and an unemployment rate of more than 80%.
- AFP
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Zimbabwe Special Report
