Mugabe rules - again
01/04/2005 21:52 - (SA) Related Articles Mugabe's party wins elections Mugabe's party takes the lead Mass fraud in poll - Tsvangirai 10 000 votes 'out of nowhere' Gallery: Zim election
Harare - President Robert Mugabe's party won enough seats to clinch a parliamentary majority, according to results announced on Friday in an election the opposition and rights groups said was skewed from the start. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai accused the government of stealing the poll and urged Zimbabweans to defend their votes. Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) won 55 of parliament's 120 elected seats, compared to 34 for the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the national election commission announced. Mugabe appoints another 30 seats, ensuring his party a majority. Tsvangirai told reporters at an earlier news briefing: "The government has fraudulently, once again, betrayed the people. "We believe the people of Zimbabwe must defend their vote and their right to free and fair elections." Mugabe nephew declared winner Tsvangirai said inconsistencies in the results pointed to rigging. He cited the example of Manyame, 40km southwest of Harare, where Mugabe's nephew, ruling party candidate Patrick Zhawao, was declared the winner. Election officials announced on Thursday night that 14 812 people voted in that constituency. But early on Friday, they changed the total to 24 000 and said Zhawao got more than 15 000 votes. Election commission officials refused to comment on the discrepancy, but said they doubted there was any rigging. Tsvangirai's party has shied away from confrontation with Mugabe's increasingly repressive regime after street protests were violently crushed. His party has preferred to fight its battles in the courts - now packed with judges sympathetic to Mugabe. Tsvangirai said his party would do more this time than begin another round of appeals. Party leaders were meeting on Saturday to decide their next step. Independent Zimbabwean rights groups and the United States, whose diplomats observed the campaign and voting, agreed with Tsvangirai that the polls were seriously flawed. Lost six seats in by-elections Although this campaign had been relatively peaceful, they said bloodletting and intimidation in previous years had already skewed the poll in favour of Mugabe's party. The MDC won 57 of the 120 elected seats in the last legislative poll in 2000, but lost six of them in subsequent by-elections. In 2002, Tsvangirai was narrowly declared loser of the presidential poll. The independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network, which deployed 6 000 observers nationwide, said as many as a quarter of those who tried to vote before 15:15 (13:15 GMT) on Thursday were turned away because their names did not appear on the voters roll, or they failed to present proper identification. George Chiweshe, a former army officer who headed the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, conceded some were turned away, but said the problem was not as big as the independent group estimated. He said 116 198 of the 1.4 million people who tried to vote before 14:00 (12:00 GMT) - less than 10% - were not allowed.
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Amid claims of rigging by the opposition party, news reports today from the Zimbabwe capital city of Harare, say current President Robert Mugabe has again clinched a party victory in this round of national elections.

This national election bears similarity to the 2000 election when allegations that Mugabe's dominant political party, the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), used its position in power to steal the election were widespread. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who after that election appealed to the nation's courts for justice, appears ready this time to take the argument to the street, possibly sparking violent protests and unrest. The leader urged, "Zimbabweans must defend their right to vote and they must defend their vote."

Past MDC street protests were met violently by Mugabe's regime, and the court system in Zimbabwe is seen as largely supportive of the Zanu-PF agenda.

The Zanu-PF took 55 of the 120 seats in the Zimbabwe Parliament. The MDC took 34 seats. The MDC had received strong support during pre-election rallies and had hoped to gain enough new seats to gain a legislative majority in the parliament. Mugabe, now 81, will appoint another 30 seats, which will ensure his party a majority.

Tsvangirai cites the area of Manyame located near the capital as an example of election rigging. Mugabe's nephew, Patrick Zhawao, the ruling party candidate was declared winner. On Thursday night election officials reported 14,812 votes were counted. Then early Friday morning, the total vote count was reported at 24,000, with Zhawao getting more than 15,000 of the vote.

The over-night voting count inconsistency led him to charge, "The government has fraudulently, once again, betrayed the people," he told reporters at a news briefing.