Zimbabwe's Central Electoral Commission yesterday postponed the announcement of the preliminary results of Saturday's presidential and parliamentary elections: "The CEC understands that the results are eagerly awaited in Zimbabwe and beyond, but they must be carefully analyzed." According to the Central Election Commission, in 38 constituencies out of 210 (the number of seats in parliament), the victory was divided exactly in half by the ruling ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The opposition suspects the authorities of trying to rig the vote in favor of 84-year-old Robert Mugabe. He has led the country since independence from Britain in 1980 and is seeking a sixth presidential mandate.
In the absence of official results for the presidential election, the MDC reported, citing its tallies in 128 constituencies out of 210, that its 56-year-old candidate Morgan Tsvangirai won in the first round with 60% of the vote against Mugabe's 30%. The government was outraged by such assessments: “This is called a coup, and we all know what to do in the event of a coup.” The elections were monitored by representatives of Iran, China, Libya, Russia and several African countries. Observers from the West were not allowed into the country.
Alexey SLOBODIN
Robert Mugabe is in no hurry to count votes • Vremya novostej • RIMA — Russian Independent Media Archive
