Mugabe's Zanu-PF 'wins majority'

Zimbabwe Prime Minister and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's party has won a two-thirds majority in parliament in this week's elections, officials say.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said that Zanu-PF had won 142 seats in the 210-seat chamber.

Analysts say the result is enough for Zanu-PF to change the constitution. Results in the presidential race have yet to be announced.

President Mugabe's main rival has already dismissed the election as "a sham".

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and is running for president against Mr Mugabe, said the vote had been a "huge farce".
A palpable feeling has gripped the capital, Harare, where people's hopes had been raised by the absence of the intimidation and violence seen in past elections.

Many cannot understand how President Mugabe's party managed to win seats in Mr Tsvangirai's urban strongholds.

In contrast, Zanu-PF supporters feel they have brought back the father of the nation, who fought colonial rule and restored the dignity of black Zimbabweans.

The country is torn apart by political strife. Emotions are running high and the country is likely to face another period of bickering and, perhaps, economic stagnation.

The leaders of Mr Tsvangirai's MDC are meeting on Saturday to map the way forward.

The question is whether he will remain at the helm, or face internal pressures to quit.

The strong indications are that he may stay on in the opposition trenches until the next election.

Polling stations

For now, the MDC is pursuing the legal route, which - judging by the past - is unlikely to succeed.

For President Mugabe, it is time to go back to the office, where he will face the world's questions about his legitimacy.

A local monitoring group has also said that the poll was "seriously compromised".

However, the two main observer groups have broadly endorsed the election, saying it was free and peaceful.


African Union (AU) mission head Olusegun Obasanjo dismissed complaints of fraud, saying the election was fair and free "from the campaigning point of view".

Monitors from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) described the elections as "free and peaceful", but said it was too early to call them fair.

"In democracy, we not only vote, not only campaign, but accept the hard facts, particularly the outcome," said SADC mission head Bernard Membe.

The AU assessment sharply contrasted to that of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) - the largest group of domestic monitors with some 7,000 people on the ground.

It said on Thursday that the elections were "seriously compromised", with as many as one million people unable to cast their ballots.

The ZESN said potential voters were much more likely to be turned away from polling stations in urban areas, where support for Mr Tsvangirai is strong, than in President Mugabe's rural strongholds.

The group also alleged significant irregularities before the poll.

It said that 99.7 per cent of rural voters were registered on the electoral roll in June compared with only 67.9 per cent of urban voters.