Unofficial Results in Zimbabwe Show Win for MDC, Defeat for Mugabe
By Jane Clark
March 31, 2008 | Printer Friendly

Zimbabwe in Context: Extensive background information on the situation in Zimbabwe

According to the New York Times, the opposition party in Zimbabwe claims that it has won the elections by a landslide.  Their tallies show the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) candidate Morgan Tsvangirai beating current president Robert Mugabe with 60 percent of the vote.  Results show that the MDC is winning in areas that typically supported Mugabe in the past.  There has been a delay in releasing official results, however, leading to fears that the election will be rigged.  The only official results are a partial release of parliamentary results showing the MDC and ZANU-PF tied with twelve seats each.

AllAfrica writes that several major ZANU-PF candidates are losing their parliamentary seats to lesser known MDC candidates.  One of the most notable so far has been a loss by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa to a relatively unknown MDC candidate, John Nyamande.  According to MDC’s tallies, their party has won 96 out of 128 constituencies so far; there are 210 total parliamentary districts.  MDC officials believe that ZANU-PF “will soon run out of positive results to announce.”

As reported by BBC News, the MDC has some concern that officials will announce a win for Mugabe with 52 percent of the vote, which would prevent a run-off.  A ZANU-PF official has declared that he is confident that Mugabe will win, and they will maintain their majority in Parliament.  Other officials in the party are not quite as confident.  One source told BBC News that security officials were meeting to decide who would tell Mugabe that he has lost.  Because of the uncertainty surrounding the election results, many people fear violence and have been staying indoors.  Al Jazeera writes that police have been patrolling heavily to prevent any premature celebrations, but have not been overly strict and have stated that “it’s human to celebrate but they should not provoke, intimidate or insult others.”
 

Links:

New York Times: Zimbabwe Opposition Insists Mugabe Lost

AllAfrica: Zimbabwe - Justice Minister Loses Seat to MDC Candidate

BBC News: Zimbabwe Stands "On a Precipice"

Al Jazeera: Zimbabwe Reveals First Poll Results