HARARE - Robert Mugabe and his top lieutenants were set to draw up battle
plans today after their disastrous performance in Zimbabwe’s elections as the
deadline loomed for the results of presidential polls.
With tensions mounting in the Zimbabwean capital Harare with the arrest of
two foreign journalists, the country’s 84-year-old leader Mugabe was expected to
take the chair at a crunch session of his Zanu-PF party’s politburo.
With the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) having already
wrested control of parliament from Zanu-PF in Saturday’s joint presidential and
parliamentary contest, Mugabe is now facing the biggest threat to his grip on
power since becoming the country’s first post-independence leader in 1980.
While concerted diplomatic efforts are under way to persuade Mugabe to accept
the outcome of the presidential ballot, his camp has been laying the groundwork
for a second round run-off against MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior party source said that the
politburo would "discuss the election outcome and explore what went wrong".
The 49-member politburo, Zanu-PF’s most senior organ, was expected to meet
from around 10:00 am (0800 GMT).
Deputy information minister Bright Matonga, a senior Zanu-PF lawmaker,
indicated yesterday that the party was gearing itself up for a run-off between
Mugabe and Tsvangirai, whose followers have already proclaimed victory. "Zanu-PF
is ready for a run-off, we are ready for a resulting victory," said Matonga.
He said the party had "let the president down" in the first round and had not
diverted enough energy into its campaign. "In terms of strategy, we only applied
25 percent of our energy into this campaign...That (the run-off) is when we are
going to unleash the other 75 percent that we did not apply in the first case."
The MDC says its own calculations show that Tsvangirai won just over the 50
percent of votes needed to avoid a run-off but is still prepared for a second
round if necessary.
The government-appointed electoral commission should to announce the results
by the end of today in line with a six-day deadline after polling contained in
the electoral law.
However, with the commission having only just begun to announce the results
to the largely ceremonial upper house, the senate, there was little expectation
that the outcome of the presidential contest will be declared.
Final results of the parliamentary election were finally announced early
yesterday with the MDC, including members of a splinter faction, winning a
combined total of 109 seats against 97 for Zanu-PF in the 210-strong chamber.
The Zimbabwean authorities refused nearly all applications by the foreign
media to cover the polls, warning last week they would deal severely with any
journalists who sneaked into the country.
And in a raid on a Harare guest house yesterday, award-winning New York Times
reporter Barry Bearak was among two foreign journalists detained. "They are
being investigated for practicing without accreditation," national police
spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena told AFP.
Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, made yesterday his
first public appearance since the polls when he met election observers from the
African Union (AU).
Former Sierra Leone president Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, who headed the AU mission
that monitored the polls, said Mugabe appeared "relaxed" during their talks and
revealed he had also met Tsvangirai.
South African President Mbeki, who was the chief mediator between the MDC and
Zanu-PF in the run-up to the polls, meanwhile urged all sides to respect the
outcome and said he had held talks on the phone with Tsvangirai.
Some three million Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa since the turn of
the decade when their homeland’s economy went into a tailspin.
Inflation now stands at more than 100,000 percent, unemployment at over 80
percent, basic foodstuff are scarce and life expectancy has dropped to 36 years
of age.
The Times -
Mugabe party draws battle plans
Related Items:
|
