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Zim govt: We have our own results
01/05/2008 23:11 - (SA)
Harare - President Robert Mugabe's government has its own presidential election results showing a run-off will be necessary, a Cabinet minister said on Thursday.
Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga's comments came a day after Zimbabwe's opposition rejected a runoff, despite a media report that the official tally - still awaited more than a month after the vote - showed its candidate beat Mugabe, but not by enough to avoid a second round. Matonga said Mugabe's party will take part in a run-off.
"As far as I'm concerned, there is going to be a run-off," Matonga told The Associated Press. "We have got our own results."
On Wednesday, CNN television quoted an unidentified senior official with Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party as saying results from the March 29 election gave opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai 47% of the votes while Mugabe trailed with 43%.
Matonga would not say whether the CNN report was correct or give details about the figures he said the government has. But he said no one won the 50% plus one vote needed to avoid a run-off.
Independent observers have been saying that Tsvangirai won the most votes, but not enough to avoid a second round. Tsvangirai insists he won outright.
Withholding results
Individual polling stations have posted results, allowing parties and others to compile their own tallies while the nation awaits official results from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. Tsvangirai and rights groups have accused Mugabe of withholding the results to buy time to steal a run-off through intimidation or fraud.
Electoral commission officials said late Wednesday that no official results had been released and that party officials would not see them until a verification process began. The verification process, at which party officials were to review figures, began on Thursday afternoon.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai sent representatives, and independent candidate Simba Makoni attended himself. Journalists were allowed to inside for only a few minutes as the process began, and were given no indication when it would be completed.
Zanu-PF 'plotting a second round'
In Johannesburg on Wednesday, South Africa, Tsvangirai spokesperson George Sibotshiwe reiterated that the opposition would not take part in a run-off because it believed only fraudulent results would deny Tsvangirai outright victory.
"If Robert Mugabe cannot accept the real results now, what's the guarantee he'll accept the real results after a run-off?" Sibotshiwe said.
Sibotshiwe said the report that a run-off would be necessary was part of a government strategy. He accused the ruling party of plotting a second round of voting that Mugabe would engineer in his favour.
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