Harare — TENSION mounted in Zimbabwe yesterday as it emerged that President Robert Mugabe had arbitrarily blocked the result of the weekend’s cliff-hanger presidential election to manipulate it in his favour.

By late yesterday no official presidential vote results were available, prompting the US, the UK and the European Union to call for the state-run Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to act swiftly.

Last night, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the federation was “extremely concerned” over the slow counting of votes. “This snail pace just deepens all manner of suspicions,” he said in Johannesburg.

Almost 48 hours after polls closed, only 67 of 210 parliamentary constituencies had been declared, showing Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party one seat ahead of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The withholding of the result has caused a tense situation in a country already reeling from a deep economic crisis, and heightened fears of instability in the region.

On Sunday, Mugabe met the Joint Operations Command (JOC), which comprises army, police and intelligence chiefs, for an emergency meeting to discuss security. This was prompted by the growing fears that if Mugabe had managed to rig the elections — as opposition groups have claimed — antigovernment street protests could spontaneously erupt.

Security sources said Mugabe and the JOC decided to withhold the presidential election results and release the outcomes of the parliamentary, senate and local council polls in small batches to manage the volatile situation and prepare the nation for a Mugabe victory.

The idea is also to contain the situation because Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) have lost the polls by wide margins, sources said.

Sources in the ZEC, which is staffed by pro-government officials, said Mugabe had thwarted the release of the presidential election result to enable his regime to doctor the outcome.

A secret task force of security and electoral personnel was in place before the vote to ensure Mugabe and the divided Zanu (PF) won an absolute majority.

The team, headed by Central Intelligence Organisation operatives tasked to ensure Mugabe “wins power, stays in power, and keeps power”, would heavily influence the already flawed electoral process to secure a Mugabe victory, well substantiated information to hand shows.

Yesterday, riot police patrolled the streets of cities while the army was on high alert.

Mugabe has said he would crush any protests by the opposition. “Let them try and they will see,” he said in closing his campaign on Friday last week.

Political scientist John Makumbe said Mugabe was likely to rig the polls, creating serious clashes between the security forces and the opposition.

“I know for sure Mugabe will rig. There is too much evidence to support this,” he said. “We might end up with a Kenyan-like situation here, but it doesn’t have to be like that. However, if Mugabe rigs there will be fierce resistance this time.”

The main opposition MDC, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, said Zanu (PF) had lost and was trying to doctor the results.

Official results announced by the ZEC showed Zanu (PF) had 26 seats, Tsvangirai’s MDC faction had 25 seats and the MDC camp led by Arthur Mutambara had one seat.

There are 210 seats in the House of Assembly and 60 elective seats in the Senate. Two cabinet ministers, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Interactive Affairs Minister Chen Chimutengwende, lost their seats.

The MDC yesterday released its unofficial results, which showed it had won 96 constituencies out of 128 counted.

“In our view we cannot see the national trend changing. This means the people have spoken, they’ve spoken against the dictatorship," said MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti.