Foreign Staff
31 March 2008
Johannesburg — Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition said yesterday it had won the most crucial election since independence, but President Robert Mugabe's government warned premature victory claims would be seen as an attempted coup.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said calling results as they were released at polling stations across the country was the MDC's way of avoiding rigging of official results.
Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the main MDC opposition party, told diplomats and observers early results showed it was victorious. "We have won this election," he said.
The party, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, garnered 67% of the 35% of votes so far counted, said Biti. "In our view the trend is irreversible and, barring a miracle, Mugabe can't win."
He said the MDC had taken main urban centres of Harare and Bulawayo. Reports later said the MDC had won in the eastern city of Mutare. He said early results from some rural constituencies showed MDC gains.
"This is just an example of what we're getting from every province," Biti said.
The results "are in the public domain", Biti, a lawyer, said. "We made the mistake of not announcing our victory in 2002 and 2005 and we're not going to make the same mistake."
He was, however, concerned about delays in announcing some results, which traditionally begin emerging soon after polls close.
"The people's victory is on course," Biti said. "We have absolutely no doubt that we are winning this election."
Government spokesman George Charamba warned against early claims of victory. "It is called a coup d'etat and we know how coups are handled," he told the state-owned Sunday Mail.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) yesterday warned the MDC to desist from announcing results that had not been officially released by the commission.
Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, faced his most formidable challenge in the election against MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and ruling Zanu (PF) party defector Simba Makoni. Both focused on the collapse of the economy.
Mugabe focused on the threat of the west taking over Zimbabwe and accused it of sabotaging the economy.
Analysts believe Mugabe will be declared the winner. The opposition accused him of vote-rigging.
Observers from the Pan-African Parliament told the electoral commission they had found more than 8000 non existent voters registered on empty land in a Harare constituency.
The US said it was worried by the conduct of the election and the absence of most international observers.
"The Mugabe regime is a disgrace to the people of Zimbabwe and a disgrace to southern Africa and to the continent of Africa as a whole," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said during a visit to Jerusalem at the weekend.
"We have made very clear our concerns about how these elections might be conducted given the very bad record of Mugabe," Rice said.
People celebrated in the streets, giving each other the openhanded wave that is the opposition party's symbol. Mugabe's is a clenched fist. In Harare's densely populated Mbare suburb, drivers hooted their horns as opposition supporters sang and danced. "Give Tsvangirai his chance!" they sang.
Mugabe expressed confidence on Saturday that he would be returned to office. "We will succeed. We will conquer," he said. He rejected vote-rigging allegations.
Once-prosperous Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation rate of more than 100000%, chronic food and fuel shortages, and an HIV/AIDS epidemic that has contributed to a steep decline in life expectancy.
"If Mugabe wins, no one will believe he won and if Tsvangirai wins, there is some doubt Mugabe will accept defeat," said John Makumbe, a political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. "The reaction of the rest of Africa is difficult to predict but there will be lessons about corruption and the abuse of power by dictators."
In elections in 2000, 2002 and 2005 the MDC led in initial results as votes in urban areas, the bedrock of opposition support, are counted first. The party lost after rural votes came in.
Results are posted outside individual polling stations before being sent to a central collating centre, Irene Petras, the head of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, confirmed. Preliminary official results were expected later yesterday and today, with final result expected tomorrow.
About 3-million Zimbabweans, or a quarter of the population, are in SA, mostly illegally, according to SA's government. Thousands more have found shelter in Zambia and Botswana. These "ghost" voters will fundamentally affect the election. Most are working-age and opposition supporters.
"We are hopeful, we are hungry and nothing but change can help us," Jonas Mashakada, an office worker, said in interview from Helensvale in northern Harare. "Things are terrible and only change will stop people dying or running to other countries."
There were few reports of violence.
Police arrested 13 MDC activists and two MPs apparently during a fight over results in Harare. Scores of MDC supporters were arrested in Mutare during early election celebrations. On Saturday a person was shot dead during a botched attempt kill an MDC candidate. In Bulawayo, a Zanu (PF) official's home was petrol bombed, but no one was hurt.
With Sapa-AP, Bloomberg
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