Okay, no pleasant surprises from Zimbabwe, just the usual strong iron fist dictatorship from Magabe! He cannot accept defeat and will continue to play his dirty tricks. What a bastard, someone should take him out and all his top cronies!
Mugabe asks for recount as election stalemate deepens
Reuters
Sun 6 Apr 2008
By Stella Mapenzauswa
HARARE, April 6 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe sunk deeper into political stalemate on
Sunday, with the opposition going to court to get election results released
and President Robert Mugabe's ruling party asking for a delay and recount.
Tensions between the two sides have risen sharply since the elections last
weekend, fueled by opposition suspicions Mugabe's ZANU-PF is preparing to
rig the outcome of the hotly contested March 29 presidential poll.
The stakes were raised on Saturday when Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the
Movement for Democratic Change, declared victory over Mugabe in the
presidential race and accused the veteran 84-year-old leader of "preparing a
war on the people".
Mugabe's supporters struck back hours later when state media reported that
ZANU-PF had asked election officials to defer release of the presidential
poll results and conduct a recount and audit of all materials, including
ballots, used in it.
The ruling party cited "revelations of errors and miscalculations" as the
basis for its request, according to a report in the state-run Sunday Mail.
The High Court in Harare is scheduled on Sunday to hear Tsvangirai's
application to have the results issued immediately, His MDC supporters say
they will show the former union leader won an absolute majority of the
votes.
Independent observers, however, say the MDC leader outpolled Mugabe but did
not win enough votes to avoid a run-off.
Top ZANU-PF officials have endorsed Mugabe for the second ballot, putting to
rest speculation that they might ask him to concede defeat.
A group of pro-Mugabe liberation war fighters also have vowed to back him in
his bid to stay in power.
Zimbabwe state radio reported on Saturday that the war veterans had
threatened to occupy all white-owned farms in Masvingo Province amid reports
that white farmers were returning to land seized by the government after
2000.
The re-emergence of the war veterans, who led a wave of violent occupations
of white farms as part of the government land redistribution programme,
raised fears Mugabe's supporters would try to intimidate opponents ahead of
the run-off.
It is not clear when the next vote would occur. Zimbabwean law requires that
the run-off be held within three weeks, but the ZANU-PF has hinted that the
timing might be changed.
The ruling party also plans to challenge some of the results of the
parliamentary election, which showed it lost control of the lower house.
Results from the upper chamber have Mugabe's party winning half of the
contested seats.
In a separate article, the Sunday Mail said ZANU-PF had rejected an
opposition offer to form a unity government.
"Approaches were made by MDC-Tsvangirai to form a government of national
unity. Although it is unclear in what capacity the emissaries came, ZANU-PF
rejected the approaches, and this was communicated to the MDC," it said
quoting ZANU-PF member and Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa.
Former colonial ruler Britain and the United States, both of whom have
applied sanctions on Mugabe and his top officials, have criticised the
election delay and suggested it could be the precursor to a rigged result.
Mugabe's government is widely accused in the West of stealing previous
presidential and parliamentary elections, and his removal is seen by
Washington and London as necessary to rebuilding Zimbabwe's shattered
economy.
Zimbabweans are struggling with inflation of more than 100,000 percent --
the highest in the world -- mass unemployment and chronic shortages of meat,
bread, fuel and other basic necessities. (Additional reporting by Nelson
Banya, Cris Chinaka, Muchena Zigomo, MacDonald Dzirutwe; Writing by Paul
Simao; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Opponents fear Mugabe army plotting bloodbath
Election 'victor' Tsvangirai in desperate move to prevent second ballot
By CHRIS McGeal
Sunday April 06 2008
Robert Mugabe was accused last night of preparing a war against Zimbabwe's
people in an attempt to overturn the opposition's presidential election
victory.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
who has already claimed outright victory in the election, even though the
official count has yet to be released, said the government was reviving the
war veterans and party militias to bludgeon the opposition into submission
and terrorise voters before a run-off ballot.
"Violence will be the new weapon to reverse the people's will," he said.
"Militants are being prepared. War vets are on the warpath."
Mr Svangirai called Mr Mugabe a lame-duck president and said he "must
concede to allow us to move on with the business of rebuilding and
reconstructing the country".
He said the MDC was reluctant to take part in a second round of presidential
elections because of the mounting climate of fear -- although he stopped
short of threatening a boycott.
Mr Tsvangirai said: "In the runoff, violence will be the weapon. It is
unfair and unreasonable for President Mugabe to call a run-off."
He reiterated his claim that a runoff was unnecessary. His party claims he
won 50.3 per cent of the vote, but the official election commission has
still not released the results. Mr Mugabe appears to have emerged from one
of the most turbulent weeks of his 28-year rule, which began with the shock
of looming political oblivion, as determined as ever not to admit defeat.
South African president Thabo Mbeki warned the world yesterday not to
intervene in Zimbabwe. He insisted the delay in announcing the results was
in order for checks to be carried out ensuring that there was "no
controversy".
Mr Mbeki, in London for talks with British prime minister Gordon Brown, is
leading efforts to resolve the crisis over whether Mr Mugabe was defeated at
the ballot box. He said that international outrage was unwarranted and
called for a re-run of the elections. It 'was time to wait', he added.
Mr Brown used a press conference at a summit of world leaders attended by
both men yesterday to repeat calls for the publication of the results,
adding: "They cannot be any longer delayed."
But Mr Mbeki said the elections had been conducted so far in accordance with
the rules, adding the delay was due to verification by the Zimbabwe
electoral commission: "It is a process to ensure there is no controversy."
Yesterday armed police prevented opposition lawyers from entering Zimbabwe's
High Court to lodge a suit for the immediate publication of delayed results
of the presidential election.
Lawyer Alec Muchadehama said a senior police officer wearing a shirt of the
ruling ZANU-PF party gave the order amid increasing signs of a clampdown
against an opposition that won most votes in the March 29 presidential poll,
according to independent projections.
"No one is going to enter. They say they are going to call the riot police,"
said Mr Muchadehama, a lawyer for the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change. Journalists waiting outside the court were also ordered to disperse.
ZANU-PF said on Friday that it was endorsing Mr Mugabe, whose 28-year rule
led Zimbabwe from liberation to ruin, to contest a runoff against MDC leader
Mr Tsvangirai.
The ZANU-PF announcement pre-empting results from the ostensibly independent
election commission, underlined that Mr Mugabe's party is Zimbabwe's most
powerful authority. Independent projections show Mr Tsvangirai won most
votes, but not the 50 per cent plus one needed for an outright victory. The
MDC appealed for UN intervention yesterday to prevent bloodshed in a runoff
campaign because it fears Mr Mugabe will use brute force to try to retain
power.
Nelson Chamisa, a MDC spokesman, said there were signals that Mugabe, 84,
was preparing to crack down. Feared veterans of the guerrilla war, used in
the past to beat-up opponents, held an intimidating march last Friday.
Opposition party offices were raided and armed police in full riot gear
arrested foreign journalists in a show of force.
"They are trying to intimidate people, they are trying to set up the context
for unleashing violence. The vampire instincts of this regime are definitely
going to come out," Mr Chamisa said.
"But we cannot be alone. We need the international community to help us. The
UN has to make sure that there is no violence in this country . . . They
should not [wait to] come when there is blood in the street, blood in the
villages."
©Guardian
Topic: Pleasantly Surprised!? Zimbabwe? (Read 1353 times)