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MDC braced for a coup if it wins

01 AUG 2013 19:13 TAKUDZWA MUNYAKA  http://mg.co.za/

The party has an 'action plan' for such a scenario, based on the violence of the military in the past.Image courtesy M&G Aaron Ufumeli

Zimbabwe’s opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change  of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T), said that, should it win the election, it was prepared for the possibility of a coup by the military, which might not accept the results.

MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said his party was concerned about the behaviour and utterances of defence force chiefs in the past, hence their push for security sector reforms. He said it was unfortunate that Zanu-PF had refused to implement the reforms, despite being urged to do so by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

“We believe we will win the elections. But as a party we have worked out all the possible situations and scenarios that may occur should we win, including the threats of a coup.

“We have an action plan for all scenarios, although we cannot publicly share them,” he said.

“But let me say that if they are foolish enough to stage a coup, the coup will not be against MDC-T, it will be against Zimbabweans, SADC, the African Union and the international community,” Mwonzora said.

On January 9 2002, just two months before the presidential elections, Zimbabwe’s military and security chiefs made an announcement that sent shivers down the spines of ordinary Zimbabweans.

“Let it be known that the highest office in the land is a straightjacket whose occupant is expected to observe the objectives of the liberation struggle. We will therefore not accept, let alone support or salute, anyone with a different agenda that threatens the very existence of our sovereignty, our country and our people,” they said in a statement, read by the then commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), the late general Vitalis Zvinavashe.

Zvinavashe was flanked by Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) commander Constantine Chiwenga (now ZDF commander), the commander of the Air Force of Zimbabwe, Air Marshal Perrence Shiri and police commissioner Augustine Chihuri when he declared that the securocrats would stage a coup in the event that Tsvangirai won the election.

This week, Newsday reported that retired Brigadier General Livingstone Chineka had told a village rally in Masvingo, south of Harare, that the army would dislodge Tsvangirai if he won the poll.

A security sector analyst and the executive director of the African Public Policy and Research Institute, Dr Martin Rupiya, a retired senior army officer, said security commanders would view a Zanu-PF loss as a loss to themselves, largely because of the wealth they had accumulated under Mugabe’s patronage system.

Rupiya said the military would be eager to defend its wealth and was a threat to a smooth transition.

Sources within the military spoke of their fear of losing their assets and privileges if Mugabe was defeated. They said this was the driving force behind coup threats by the military, rather than their public utterances that they viewed Tsvangirai and the MDC formations as sellouts.

Several defence force chiefs, among them Chiwenga, the commissioner general of the Zimbabwe Republic Police Augustine Chihuri,  and majors general Trust Mugoba, Douglas Nyikayaramba and Martin Chedondo have recently declared their loyalty to Mugabe and Zanu-PF.

Almost all military commanders were allocated some of the best farms during the land-reform programme and were also beneficiaries of the government agricultural mechanisation programme under which they received state-of-the-art equipment such as combine harvesters, planters and ­tractors for free.

Some of those who are retired from the army have also been deployed in various strategic state institutions and parastatals, among them the National Railways of Zimbabwe, the Grain Marketing Board and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority.

In recent months, the military has also extended itself into business and runs diamond mines through Mbada Diamonds, Marange Resources and Anjin Investments in the in Chiadzwa area.

The army is also a shareholder in China Africa Sunlight Energy, a company involved in a $2.1-billion project to exploit methane gas and coal deposits in the Gwayi and Lupane areas of Matabeleland North.

Before the 2008 presidential run-off election, the army was widely accused of perpetrating violence in areas where Tsvangirai had done well in the first round of voting. Security analysts believe there is a chance that the sector will intervene in the same way again.

Rupiya said the fact that SADC had demanded that security chiefs publicly state that they would uphold the Constitution was a reflection that they took coup threats seriously.

“This view [of a coup] is also shared by SADC, which in its June Maputo declaration, directed the president to ensure, in writing, that the securocrats recant their 2002 mantra,” said Rupiya. He said that the African Union was also aware of the military threat given the military’s past violent interventions.

Zanu-PF has also been reported to have deployed senior officers to co-ordinate its campaign.

Air Vice-Marshal Henry Muchena and former Central Intelligence Organisation director Sydney Nyanhongo run Zanu-PF’s ­commissariat department.

Gwinyayi Dzinesa, a senior researcher with the conflict prevention and risk analysis division at the Institute for Security Studies, this week told an ISS publication he did not believe security chiefs would stage a coup, although he said they might try to interfere with the electoral process should the election go to a run-off.

Dzinesa said SADC and the AU, as guarantors of Zimbabwe’s Global Political Agreement, should come up with strategies on how best to handle a possible MDC victory.

MDC-T secretary for defence Giles Mutsekwa, a retired major, recently told the Zimbabwe Independent that he had engaged hostile top service chiefs to assure them his party would guarantee their security if they did not interfere with the transfer of power.

However, he said the rank and file of the military did not support the idea of a coup.

At a press conference earlier this week at State House, Mugabe said the army would not interfere should he lose the polls as they were “law-abiding” and disciplined.


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Morgan Tsvangirai declares elections illegitimate

By Nomalanga Moyo: http://www.swradioafrica.com

MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai has dismissed Wednesday’s election as ‘a huge farce’ which does not reflect the will of the people.

The Electoral Commission is yet to announce the final results but unofficial reports so far point to a ZANU PF win, against a background of what civil society groups have been saying is a seriously compromised polling environment.

Speaking at party headquarters Thursday morning, Tsvangirai said the legitimacy and credibility of the election had “been marred by administrative and legal violations.” See statement here

He cited the controversial voters’ roll, lack of security and media reforms as some of the reasons why the poll result is discredited and out of sync with international elections standards.

Going into the July 31st election, there were concerns about electoral irregularities raised by civic groups and the MDC formations, including thousands of people being prevented from registering, and duplicated names on the roll.

By Thursday, a day after the election, the MDC still had not received an electronic version of the voters’ roll, despite a court order compelling the Registrar-General’s Office to provide one.

Tsvangirai’s raised these issues again in his address, saying: “In our view, this election is null and void” and did not meet international guidelines for a credible process.

He said: “For the above reasons, the election has been heavily manipulated. In our view, the outcome of this election is illegitimate. But more importantly, the shoddy manner in which it has been conducted and the consequent illegitimacy of the result will plunge this country into a serious crisis.”

He went on: “It’s a sham election that does not reflect the will of the people. In our view this election does not meet the SADC, AU and international standards for a credible, legitimate, free and fair election.”

Tsvangirai said it was not the MDC-T that had been shortchanged in this rigged election, but the millions of Zimbabweans who will yet again suffer the economic and political consequences of ZANU PF misrule.

The MDC-T leader called for an audit of the whole electoral process by both the SADC and the AU teams.

However, Tsvangirai’s call came too late, after the leaders of both observer teams gave the process a clean bill of health.

Head of the AU team, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, swatted away concerns over the voters’ roll and the disenfranchised voters as minor issues that wouldn’t affect the credibility of the result.

Speaking to the press conference at the close of polling Wednesday, Obasanjo said: “From what I saw and what has been reported so far from our observers, I feel the conduct of the election has been peaceful, orderly, free and fair.”

SADC, through its Head of the Observer Mission and Tanzanian Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Membe, said Tuesday the environment in the country was conducive for the elections. Both bodies are yet to give their official positions post-election.

However the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC (SADC-ECF), a grouping of electoral authorities from around the region, has already declared the elections credible at a press conference held Thursday.

It was always going to be the case that the SADC-ECF would endorse the poll, as condemning the process would have been tantamount to an attack on itself – considering that ZEC is a member.

 
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Vote counting completed in Zimbabwe polls

Antoinette Lazarus, Harare

Counting of votes in Zimbabwe’s 2013 Harmonised Elections has been completed at polling station level.  It is now being collated at ward and constituency levels before provincial and national results are confirmed.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) says it will release confirmed results as it comes in. The Commission says there has been a large voter turnout across the country.

In Manicaland province, indications are that about 290303 voters who went to the polls. They’re still busy with the turnout statistics of the other nine provinces. Some 6.4 million Zimbabweans registered to vote in this election. The country has a population of more than 12.5million.

The ZEC says that most polling stations across the country opened and closed within the stipulated time (7am to 7pm). However, some stations opened later due to them receiving the wrong ballot papers. Some stations closed long after the 7pm deadline because of the long queues.

According to Zimbabwe’s Constitution, results will have to be released within five days of the elections being held.

via SABC News.com - Vote counting completed in Zimbabwe polls: Thursday 1 August 2013.

 
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Vote chaos plunges Zimbabwe back into crisis

By Andrew Beatty AFP

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) –  Zimbabwe's disputed election has plunged the country back into a deep political crisis and could open the way for decades more of autocratic rule.

"At least it was peaceful" was the meek assessment of one Harare-based diplomat after Wednesday's presidential poll.

Even before the final votes had been counted, Robert Mugabe's allies claimed a comprehensive victory that would extend his 33-year rule.

The 89-year-old has seemingly performed a political miracle, winning by a landslide despite years of crippling unemployment that forced millions to emigrate.

The African Union quickly declared the vote free and fair, dismissing widespread allegations of rigging.

But independent observers said as many as one million people were prevented from voting in opposition urban strongholds, while Mugabe's support was inflated by repeat and "ghost" voters.

In the run-up to the vote, state media and the security services appeared to be an extension of Mugabe's campaign machine.

Mugabe's long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), cried foul, describing the vote as "a sham."

But the scale of the supposed rout left many MDC members in a state of stupor.

"I'm totally shocked at how badly they've rigged it," said MDC stalwart Roy Bennett.

Many in the MDC had hoped a vast turnout would make rigging impossible, and Mugabe, who has been in an uneasy power-sharing agreement with Tsvangirai, would be made to step aside by sheer force of opposition.

Instead the MDC is left fighting for its own political life.

"If indeed they have lost then they have to rebrand and have leadership renewal. They might start asking if they should continue to have Tsvangirai as leader," said Dumisani Nkomo, a political analyst based in Bulawayo.

It may yet get worse for the party.

"It's going to be very difficult for the MDC to make a comeback with fewer members in parliament," said Shakespeare Hamauswa, a political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe.

Official results may give Mugabe's ZANU-PF a two-thirds majority in parliament.

That would be enough to rewrite a new constitution overwhelmingly approved by Zimbabweans in March, which introduced term limits and curbs on presidential powers.

Control of the presidency and parliament would then give Mugabe's party breathing room to choose a successor.

Throughout his rule, Mugabe has steadfastly refused to name who should succeed him.

But behind the scenes there is fierce jockeying within ZANU-PF's rival camps, one led by Vice President Joice Mujuru and the other by hardline Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.

If Mugabe is declared winner, one of his first tasks will be to name a vice president, offering a hint of who might win that tussle.

Tsvangirai may have little option but to stand by and watch.

Legal efforts to annul the vote are likely to run into a wall since the courts are packed with Mugabe's acolytes.

Firebrands who have hit out at the vote talk of filling Harare's streets with protesters and staging an "African Spring," but even calls for a campaign of passive resistance seem a tough ask.

"There needs to be resistance against this theft and the people of Zimbabwe need to speak out strongly," said the MDC's Bennett.

"I'm talking about people completely shutting the country down - don't pay any bills, don't attend work, just bring the country to a standstill," said the veteran opposition leader.

Cynics point to the result of similar demonstrations in 2008, which were quickly and brutally crushed, and the fact that Zimbabweans live from day-to-day -- skipping work is not an option.

The MDC will seek some recourse from neighbours.

SADC, the southern Africa regional bloc that has spent much of the last decade trying to stabilise Zimbabwe, and which observed the vote, is widely expected to give the election a pass when it reports on Friday.

Botswana's assertion that the vote "fell short of best practice" is unlikely to be replicated by the bloc as a whole.

SADC's dominant power South Africa has long shied away from publically criticising Mugabe.

Fearing another wave of Zimbabweans across its border, Pretoria may seek to extend the power-sharing government between Tsvangirai and Mugabe which while uneasy, at least put the political crisis on ice for four years.

After five long years of talks, agreements, power-sharing, constitution-writing and elections, Zimbabwe may be back where it started, with Mugabe firmly in the driver's seat.

via Vote chaos plunges Zimbabwe back into crisis | Fox News.


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Row Erupts After Mugabe Party Claims Election Win

Cape Town — Zimbabwe's most credible civil society election monitors have raised serious questions about the credibility of the country's polls, as President Robert Mugabe's party claimed on Thursday to have "buried" Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party, which in turn charged that the election had been a "monumental fraud".

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) said in Harare that Wednesday's election was "seriously compromised" by a "systematic effort to disenfranchise an estimated million voters".

The network said that 99.97 percent of estimated eligible rural voters had been registered against only 67.94 percent of urban voters. It estimated a shortfall of 760,000 registered urban voters and said they had been "systematically... denied the opportunity to vote." Urban areas have traditionally been a stronghold of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change.

The first major post-election controversy was triggered on Thursday when, a little more than 12 hours after voting was formally due to end - although it continued until late into the night in some places - an unnamed official in Mugabe's Zanu-PF party told Reuters news agency: "We've taken this election. We've buried the MDC. We never had any doubt that we were going to win."

Reuters attributed the comment to "a senior source" in the party "who asked not to be named" but said the outcome was already clear.

Responding soon afterwards, an official described by Reuters as "a senior source" in the MDC reportedly told the agency: "It's a monumental fraud. Zimbabweans have been taken for a ride by Zanu-PF and Mugabe, we do not accept it." The MDC's secretary-general, told South Africa's SABC News that the election "represented the mother of all rigging, the mother of all shenanigans".

Later on Thursday morning, the ZESN held a news conference at which it suggested that, although voting went smoothly on polling day and no major incidents were reported, up to a million Zimbabweans had been disenfranchised. Far more people had been turned away from urban than rural polling stations.

"At 82 percent of urban polling stations many potential voters were turned away and not permitted to vote for reasons which include names not appearing on the voters' roll and turning up at the wrong ward for voting. This is in sharp contrast to rural areas where only 38 percent of polling stations turned away many potential voters. This served to disenfranchise thousands more... urban voters on Election Day."

The network also cited pre-election issues, including "massive bias in state media", intimidation in rural areas, lack of meaningful voter education, a "rushed electoral process" and harassment of civil society groups, which contributed to the credibility of the elections being compromised.

It called on observers from the African Union and the Southern African Development Community to take account of these issues.

In an earlier statement, on Wednesday, the ZESN also said a major concern was "the delayed release, distribution and the non-availability of the electronic and hard copies of the voters' roll, particularly to contesting political parties".

It cited the following as problems:

Registered voters from previous elections did not appear on the roll,

The names of some who had already voted in pre-election special voting were still on the roll, and

Some who said they had not voted during the special voting process said their names had been crossed off the roll.

In Thursday's statement, the ZESN said the failure to make an electronic version of the voters' roll available before election day meant there was no way to assess bias in the final roll.

ZESN is a coalition of 31 non-governmental organisations which has observed all the country's elections since 2000.

via allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: Row Erupts After Mugabe Party Claims Election Win.


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Major Flaws in Zimbabwe’s Elections

AUGUST 1, 2013  Tiseke Kasambala

Zimbabweans are waiting for official results from yesterday’s presidential elections but President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party seems confident of victory. We’ve spent weeks investigating the run-up to the poll as well as informally watching the voting, and what we saw supports wider concerns raised today by local monitors. They report that a high number of “ghost” or duplicate voters were present on the voters’ roll and that large numbers of people were unfairly turned away from polling stations.

In the run-up to election day, we documented major flaws in the electoral process, including highly partisan statements by high-ranking members of the security forces, restrictions on and intimidation of journalists and civil society activists, and a skewed voter registration process that made it difficult for those perceived to be opposition supporters to register.

These flaws and irregularities call into question the credibility and fairness of the election. Serious allegations like these should be fully and independently investigated before the electoral authorities declare an outcome.

via Dispatches: Major Flaws in Zimbabwe’s Elections | Human Rights Watch.


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Claims of vote-rigging mark Zimbabwe elections

By Angus Shaw and Gillian Gotora

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Allegations of vote-rigging flowed in Zimbabwe on Thursday, with reports of fake registration cards, voters turned away from the polls and people appearing on voters’ lists four times with different IDs. Even before results were announced, the main opposition camp said longtime President Robert Mugabe stole the election, which his supporters denied.

Either way, the country faces fresh political uncertainty. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe’s main challenger, said the general elections Wednesday were “null and void” because of violations of the voting process, and a poll-monitoring group not affiliated with the state also said the election was compromised by a campaign to stop voters from casting ballots.

An alliance of protesters promptly rejected the demand, raising the prospect of more violence.

Tsvangirai boycotted a presidential runoff vote in 2008 to protest violence against his supporters but said in the run-up this year that he was confident Zimbabweans would vote for change even in the most difficult conditions.

“The shoddy manner in which it has been conducted and the consequent illegitimacy of the result will plunge this country into a serious crisis,” Tsvangirai said of the balloting Wednesday.

Rugare Gumbo, a spokesman for Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, said accusations of vote-rigging were false. “We dismiss these allegations with the contempt they deserve, because there was absolutely no way of manipulating the system,” he said.

Thabani Nyoni, a civic activist and senior researcher at the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, an alliance of about 70 rights and pro-democracy groups, predicted that protests against election irregularities would emerge after official results are confirmed.

The state election commission has promised a full tally of results by Monday. No results have been announced yet.

Voter Matthew Pfuri, a Harare car salesman, said he was shocked by early results coming from polling stations where, under electoral law, summaries are posted outside when initial vote-counting is complete. Mugabe supporters have claimed that early, unconfirmed results show the president has a decisive lead.

“Maybe it’s a good outcome for Tsvangirai,” Pfuri said. “People now know what they are up against and say this blatant abuse can’t last much longer.”

Mugabe’s party said Thursday it has withdrawn an unauthorized message on its Twitter feed claiming a resounding victory.

Solomon Zwana, head of the independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network, said that his organization found a “wide range of problems” in the elections and that as many as 1 million out of more than 6 million eligible voters were not on voters’ lists.

— Associated Press

via Claims of vote-rigging mark Zimbabwe elections - The Washington Post.


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Zanu PF Heading for Landslide Victory in Disputed Election

Thomas Chiripasi, Irwin  Chifera, Jonga Kandemiiri  01.08.2013

HARARE, WASHINGTON DC — Unofficial results indicate that Zanu PF is leading in all provinces except for Bulawayo and Harare and heading for a landslide win in the general election dismissed by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai as a big farce.

Indications are that the former liberation party has gained massive votes in urban and rural areas which were widely regarded as strongholds of the Movement for Democratic Change led by Mr. Tsvangirai.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has not yet started releasing the results but civic society organisations, independent monitors and international observers say President Robert Mugabe’s party will have a clean sweep in Masvingo, Manicaland, Matabeleland South, Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland East.

“We are receiving reports that Zanu PF will almost have a landslide victory in the Midlands and Matabeleland North. The MDC-T appears to be stunned and not sure what to do next,” said one of the monitors.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is yet to announce the official results.

Mr. Tsvangirai has dismissed the general election as a big farce and an illegitimate poll, accusing President Mugabe's Zanu PF party of massive rigging.

The premier told journalists in Harare that his party will not accept the outcome of the polls but did not indicate what he and his party will do next.

Mr. Tsvangirai warned that the country may slide back into social and economic doldrums following Wednesday's elections that Zanu PF maintains were free and fair.

Mr. Mugabe on Monday said those who would have lost and are disgruntled should seek redress in the courts if they are aggrieved.

African Union chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma also called on aggrieved parties not to engage in street protests but to seek legal remedies.

Meanwhile, the Southern African Development Community electoral commission’s forum observer mission has endorsed Wednesday’s elections as free and fair although admitting that the voters’ roll used in the poll was in shambles.

Presenting the group’s preliminary report, head of mission Notemba Tjipueja said Zimbabweans had participated freely in the elections.

Asked why the group is saying the elections were credible given the alleged use of a disputed voters’ roll said to be in a shambolic state, Tjipueja said there was no such thing as a perfect voters’ roll.

He admitted the voters’ list needs attention. Despite endorsing the poll, the group which had 25 members expressed concern about the failure by the Registrar General to avail the voter’s roll on time for parties and candidate to scrutinise.

At the same time, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) says thousands of urban voters were systematically disenfranchised of their right to vote when they found out that their names were appearing in different wards, among other reasons.

Solomon Zwana, ZESN chairman, told a press conference that while the pre-election period was calm and peaceful there are many critical factors which undermined the credibility of the elections.

These include inadequate preparations, flawed voter registration and voters roll and limited voter education among others.

Late Thursday afternoon, Zanu PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo quickly dismissed Mr. Tsvangirai’s statements telling VOA’s Blessing Zulu his party is tired of the MDC-T leader’s complaints.

And political analyst Trevor Maisiri of the International Crisis Group said many questions remain unanswered over the election.

Commenting, Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) director Okay Machisa said the lead-up to the elections was not conducive to a free and fair poll.

Nhlanhla Dube, spokesman of the MDC formation led by Professor Welshman Ncube, also said his party is still analyzing reports from various provinces.

“We are obviously getting flash lights of pictures of what is going on there. We obviously are waiting to get the final ZEC confirmed results before we can speak to the process and outcome of the just-ended polls,” said Dube.

via Zanu PF Heading for Landslide Victory in Disputed Election.


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Tension mounts as Mugabe claims poll win amid opposition protests

By KITSEPILE NYATHI Nation Correspondent in Harare and agencies

Posted  Thursday, August 1  2013 at  20:58

Zimbabwean presidential hopeful Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday described Wednesday’s election as a “huge farce”— hours after Robert Mugabe’s allies claimed victory.

The Movement for Democratic Change candidate warned that the country faced a serious crisis.

“It’s a sham election that does not reflect the will of the people. In our view this election is null and void,” Mr Tsvangirai said, pointing to a litany of alleged irregularities in the vote.

“This election has been a huge farce,” he said. “The shoddy manner in which it has been conducted and the consequent illegitimacy of the result will plunge this country into a serious crisis.”

Mr Mugabe’s allies claimed an “emphatic” victory, but local observers have called the vote “seriously compromised”.

Election day had passed off without widespread violence, but critics pointed at a flawed electoral roll, among other problems.

Mr Mugabe’s critics have accused him of rigging the poll to extend his 33-year-rule. The 89-year-old leader is running for a seventh term as president.

Unofficial results compiled by civil society groups appear to show that he did surprisingly well in urban areas, where he normally falls flat.

Mr Mugabe’s allies claimed his Zanu-PF party was headed for a ‘landslide victory’.

Early indications showed that Mr Tsivangirai performed below expectations.

Although official results were expected to start trickling in late on Thursday, Zanu-PF officials on Thursday claimed ‘resounding victory’ on social networks.

The were backed by their poll monitors who were relying on results being posted outside polling stations as vote counting was continued.

Zanu-PF has since posted a disclaimer on its Twitter feed, saying the results being peddled by its officials were not authorised.

Mr Mugabe has since threatened to arrest anyone who releases the election results without the approval of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

The commission said vote counting at polling stations had been completed on Thursday, and results were now being collated, the AFP news agency reports.

It is illegal to publish unofficial election results in Zimbabwe. Police have warned they will take action against anyone trying to leak early results.

Extra police units—some in riot gear—have now been deployed in the capital, Harare.

Legal challenges are now likely to follow, but much will depend on whether Zimbabwe’s neighbours endorse the poll, the BBC’s Andrew Harding in Johannesburg reports.

The unofficial results show Mr Tsvangirai trailing the veteran ruler in some of his urban strongholds.

via Tension mounts as Mugabe claims poll win amid opposition protests - Africa - nation.co.ke.


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EU says Zimbabwe poll peaceful, withholds judgement on fairness

BRUSSELS, Aug 1 (Reuters)

The European Union, which has eased sanctions on Zimbabwe to encourage reforms, praised Zimbabweans on Thursday for turning out in large numbers to vote peacefully but said it was too early to assess the election's fairness.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai dismissed the election as a "farce" after his rival President Robert Mugabe's party claimed a landslide victory that would secure another five years in power for Africa's oldest head of state.

The EU's verdict on the elections will decide whether it continues to ease sanctions on Zimbabwe or extends them.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton "commends the people of Zimbabwe for turning out in large numbers to cast their votes, in what were broadly peaceful elections," a spokesman said.

"She calls upon on all parties to maintain calm and order as the results of the poll become known," he said.

The EU will await the assessment of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) on the elections and reported irregularities, as well as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's official announcement of the results, before announcing its own assessment, he said.

Western election observers were barred from entering the southern African country. Regional grouping SADC and the AU had teams monitoring the voting.

One Western diplomat said that, although the elections had been peaceful, there had been some major failings in the electoral process and EU governments would have to reach a consensus on whether the vote was credible.

One EU government, former colonial ruler Britain, said it was concerned that Zimbabwe had not enacted important electoral reform before the vote and by reports that large numbers of voters had been turned away.

The EU imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in 2002 in protest at human rights abuses and violations of democracy.

In February, EU foreign ministers eased sanctions to reward Zimbabwe for political reforms and agreed to lift sanctions on a state-run diamond mining company, the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, within a month of the elections provided they were judged peaceful and credible.

A month later, the EU suspended most remaining sanctions on Zimbabwe after voters approved a new constitution. (Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

via EU says Zimbabwe poll peaceful, withholds judgment on fairness | Reuters.


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Bring Zim to a standstill - MDC's Bennett 

Johannesburg - A veteran Zimbabwean opposition leader called on Thursday for a campaign to bring the country to a halt, after a disputed election that has seen President Robert Mugabe's allies claim victory.

"There needs to be resistance against this theft and the people of Zimbabwe need to speak out strongly," the Movement for Democratic Change's (MDC) Roy Bennett told AFP in Johannesburg.

"I'm talking about passive resistance. I'm talking about people completely shutting the country down - don't pay any bills, don't attend work, just bring the country to a standstill."

Bennett, an aide to Mugabe's long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai, spends much of his time outside Zimbabwe after a series of arrests.

He remains MDC treasurer.

Mugabe's allies declared the veteran leader had romped to victory in Wednesday's poll.

Bennett expressed dismay at an election he described as an "absolute total sham”.

"I'm totally shocked at how badly they've rigged it and expect to get away with it."

"It’s not a case of even rigging it. It's a case of having totally stolen it. Blatant, outright, daylight theft of the greatest proportions."

Britain, meanwhile, has expressed concern that Zimbabwe had not enacted important electoral reform before Wednesday's vote in the former British colony, and by reports that large numbers of voters had been turned away.

"We are also concerned by the late publication of the electoral roll," a spokesperson for the British Foreign Office told Reuters.

"Any judgement on the credibility of elections will need to take these factors into account."

- AFP

via Bring Zim to a standstill - MDC's Bennett | News24.


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Letter from Harare: Harare sips a cocktail of hope and dread

LEO CENDROWICZ  London Evening Standard 

A queasy cocktail of hope and dread drifts through Zimbabwe’s capital Harare.

Yesterday’s election promises the faint but real prospect of the end of an era for President Robert Mugabe, who ushered in independence from Britain 33 years ago and has held power continuously since then.

But with counting under way, locals are wary, remembering past polls that the 89-year-old Mugabe stole through bullying and vote-rigging.

“If it’s a fair fight, Mugabe can not win,” says Prosper, a flower seller on Africa Unity Square, the central Harare plaza opposite the parliament building. “But he will cheat, like he did last time and the time before.”

Harare voters overwhelmingly support Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change, who is currently leading an uneasy power-sharing government with Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party.

They openly express disgust over Zimbabwe’s steady decline under Mugabe.

Upon independence in 1980, the nation had sub-Saharan Africa’s second best economy but it is now a basket case, burdened with debt and saddled with a jobless rate conservatively estimated at 70 per cent.

Tsvangirai himself has branded Zanu-PF as thieves who have ransacked and looted the country into destitution. He hails Mugabe’s role as father of the nation but brands him old, tired and long overdue for retirement.

Most observers say Tsvangirai won previous elections in 2002 and 2008 but was denied the presidency by a combination of electoral fixes and intimidation by Mugabe’s henchmen.

This time there is relief that violence has largely been absent from both the campaigning and voting. Indeed, the diligence and patience of voters as they queued to perform their democratic duty has been the source of pride.

Yet it is assumed that Mugabe’s supporters are manipulating the election in other ways. Tsvangirai has complained bitterly that the electoral roll was doctored to include about one million dead voters or people who moved abroad, plus more than 100,000 centenarians.

He says Mugabe’s control of the state media, the courts and security forces means he can manipulate the election without overt intimidation.

His coalition government has done much to stabilise the country and redress its economy since taking office. Zimbabwe faced economic meltdown in 2008, with inflation near 500 million per cent and prices doubling in one day.

This May inflation was 2.2 per cent, mainly due to Zimbabwe adopting the US dollar. The economy, which shrank by half in the decade to 2008, averaged above seven per cent growth from 2009-12.

Yet even if Tsvangirai is declared the winner, Mugabe’s most zealous allies in the police and army could well kick up another campaign of violence.

This is despite Mugabe’s readiness to step down — at least according to Tsvangirai, who meets him weekly in his capacity as prime minister.

Last month Tsvangirai said Mugabe had confided that he was being forced to stay on by party hard-liners. “Zanu PF should not force an old man into an election,” said Tsvangirai.

The poll results are due next week. If Tsvangirai wins, it could be that in spite of his campaign performance Mugabe will be among those sighing with relief.

via Letter from Harare: Harare sips a cocktail of hope and dread - World - News - London Evening Standard.


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Morgan Tsvangirai declares elections illegitimate

by Nomalanga Moyo

The Electoral Commission is yet to announce the final results but unofficial reports so far point to a ZANU PF win, against a background of what civil society groups have been saying is a seriously compromised polling environment.

Speaking at party headquarters Thursday morning, Tsvangirai said the legitimacy and credibility of the election had “been marred by administrative and legal violations.”

He cited the controversial voters’ roll, lack of security and media reforms as some of the reasons why the poll result is discredited and out of sync with international elections standards.

Going into the July 31st election, there were concerns about electoral irregularities raised by civic groups and the MDC formations, including thousands of people being prevented from registering, and duplicated names on the roll.

By Thursday, a day after the election, the MDC still had not received an electronic version of the voters’ roll, despite a court order compelling the Registrar-General’s Office to provide one.

Tsvangirai’s raised these issues again in his address, saying: “In our view, this election is null and void” and did not meet international guidelines for a credible process.

He said: “For the above reasons, the election has been heavily manipulated. In our view, the outcome of this election is illegitimate. But more importantly, the shoddy manner in which it has been conducted and the consequent illegitimacy of the result will plunge this country into a serious crisis.”

He went on: “It’s a sham election that does not reflect the will of the people. In our view this election does not meet the SADC, AU and international standards for a credible, legitimate, free and fair election.”

Tsvangirai said it was not the MDC-T that had been shortchanged in this rigged election, but the millions of Zimbabweans who will yet again suffer the economic and political consequences of ZANU PF misrule.

The MDC-T leader called for an audit of the whole electoral process by both the SADC and the AU teams. However, Tsvangirai’s call came too late, after the leaders of both observer teams gave the process a clean bill of health.

Head of the AU team, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, swatted away concerns over the voters’ roll and the disenfranchised voters as minor issues that wouldn’t affect the credibility of the result.

Speaking to the press conference at the close of polling Wednesday, Obasanjo said: “From what I saw and what has been reported so far from our observers, I feel the conduct of the election has been peaceful, orderly, free and fair.”

SADC, through its Head of the Observer Mission and Tanzanian Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Membe, said Tuesday the environment in the country was conducive for the elections. Both bodies are yet to give their official positions post-election.

However the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC (SADC-ECF), a grouping of electoral authorities from around the region, has already declared the elections credible at a press conference held Thursday.

It was always going to be the case that the SADC-ECF would endorse the poll, as condemning the process would have been tantamount to an attack on itself – considering that ZEC is a member.

via Morgan Tsvangirai declares elections illegitimate | The Zimbabwean.


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Zimbabwean Vote Seriously Compromised: Observer Group

By Amogelang Mbatha & Franz Wild - Aug 1, 2013

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network, one of the nation’s biggest domestic observer missions, said the credibility of yesterday’s election was “seriously compromised” with as many as 1 million urban voters unable to cast ballots.

“Before election day the voter registration process was systematically biased against urban voters,” ZESN said in an e-mailed statement today. “A total of 99.97 percent of rural voters were registered versus only 67.94 percent of urban voters.”

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who is seeking to end President Robert Mugabe’s 33-year rule, told reporters in Harare today that he won’t accept results from the “sham election.”

ZESN deployed more than 7,000 observers to every province and constituency in Zimbabwe and found that 82 percent of urban polling stations turned away voters. Reasons cited for this included names not appearing on the voters roll and citizens turning up at the wrong ward for voting. Only 38 percent of rural voting stations turned people away, according to the group.

The Zimbabwe National African Union-Patriotic Front, led by 89-year-old Mugabe, has shared power with Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change since a disputed election in 2008 that international observers said was marred by violence and irregularities.

While the pre-election period was peaceful and polling day proceeded without any major incidents reported, there are other factors that can undermine the credibility of the vote, ZESN said.

“We urge observers and all stakeholders to look below the surface as there are some grave issues that have arisen,” it said. “All is not well.”

via Zimbabwean Vote Seriously Compromised: Observer Group - Bloomberg.


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Shock and despair as Zanu-PF headed for victory

by Tichaona Sibanda  SW Radio Africa

Unconfirmed provisional results project that ZANU PF is going to win the poll by over 160 parliamentary seats. The MDC-T has said the poll was massively rigged in favour of ZANU PF, using a manipulated voters roll.

It has left many within the MDC-T ‘shell-shocked’, including its top officials who lost their parliamentary seats. Unofficial results show that the party heavyweights who lost include the MP for Harare North and co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone, the MP for Mt. Pleasant Jameson Timba and energy minister Elton Mangoma.

To make matters worse, ZANU PF has managed to retake all the 20 seats it lost to the MDC-T in the 2008 election in Manicaland. Reports indicate Morgan Tsvangirai’s party only managed to hang-on to two seats out of 26. War vets leader Joseph Chinotimba won the right to represent ZANU PF in Buhera South, while former police spokesman Olive Mandipaka won in Buhera West.

In Nyanga South Supa Mandiwanzira is now an MP for ZANU PF, while the MDC-T spokesman Douglas Mwonzora lost to Hubert Nyanhongo of ZANU PF.

In Masvingo, where both ZANU PF and MDC-T had sizeable number of seats, all 26 seats have reportedly gone to Mugabe’s party, while in Mashonaland East the MDC-T has only won one parliamentary seat out of 19. ZANU PF won 13 out of 15 seats in Mashonaland West province where the MDC-T used to have four seats.

Only in Bulawayo metropolitan province did the MDC-T manage to win all the 12 parliamentary seats. In Matabeleland North nine seats went to ZANU PF while the MDC-T has three, while in Mat South ZANU PF grabbed eleven seats to MDC-T’s one.

Reports from Mashonaland Central indicate that ZANU PF took all the 18 seats. In Harare, where the MDC-T had a majority of 23 out of 24 seats, ZANU PF has reportedly grabbed 5 seats, a shock considering that this is a major stronghold of the MDC-T.

In the Midlands North province ZANU PF took 16 out of the 18 and in the Midlands South Mugabe’s party took 12 out of 14 seats.

Pishai Muchauraya, who lost his Makoni South seat, described the defeat as shocking, saying the results are so unbelievable that even ZANU PF supporters and candidates are surprised by what has happened.

‘To start with there was blatant rigging where people were bused from other provinces to come and beef up their numbers in the province. Some people in Makoni South were voting three times and we understand there was some chemical they were using to erase the indelible ink from their fingers,’ Muchauraya said.

Settlement Chikwinya, one of two MDC-T MPs to retain their seats in Midlands North, said the loss has left him bewildered considering that they thought they had victory in their sights.

‘I’m still to comprehend this, but we knew something was fishy from the high numbers that turned up for the referendum. How they did it we will only know in weeks, but it was so blatant we had people with voter registration slips from other constituencies coming to vote in Mbizo,’ Chikwinya said.

As stated these results are provisional. There were reports that MDC-T secretary general Tendai Biti had lost his seat, but Senator David Coltart posted on his Facebook page that Biti had narrowly retained his seat. Coltart himself lost, to the MDC-T’s Thabitha Khumalo. - SW Radio Africa


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Youth Agenda Statement on elections | Sokwanele

Youth Agenda Trust would to express dismay and disappointment at the manner in which the electoral process has been conducted so far, which leaves us with no option but to conclude that this process is rigged and thus NULL and VOID.

YAT would like to particularly pick out the following issues as the basis for the position that we have taken:

1)      Voter’s roll

The voters roll that was used in yesterday’s election was hugely flawed as we saw many people being turned away from the polling stations in their wards while some found that either their names were incorrectly spelt or the ID numbers were different. In the end, a large number of voters countrywide failed to exercise their constitutional right to vote. We therefore feel that the failure by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to furnish political parties and civil society with a copy of the voters roll was a deliberate attempt to mask the well orchestrated political fraud.

2)      Voting process

We noted that there were unbelievably large numbers of people in marginalised communities such as the peri-urban, farming and mining communities who indicated that they could neither read nor write. We feel that these were intimidating tactics that were employed to force Zimbabweans into voting for candidates they did not like. In this regard, we conclude that the voting process was very violent as people were being emotionally tortured. What makes this even worse is that Zimbabwe has 95 percent literacy rate but we have over 60 percent of the voting population claiming to be illiterate.

3)      Busing of voters

We also saw large numbers of people who were bussed from rural areas to vote in Harare’s urban constituencies such as Harare East, Mt Pleasant, Mbare among others. We believe that this move to bus people was tailor made to suit the inconsistencies of the voters roll and disenfranchise bona fide voters residing in the constituencies. We also feel that the bussing of these hapless youths is tantamount to abuse as these young people were forced to engage in criminal activities.

4)      Vote manipulation

We are disturbed by reports that quite a number of Zanu PF officials were illegally issuing out registration slips even the day before the election and on the election day. We would like to say that this alone is evidence that this year’s elections have been rigged. We are just wondering that besides those who were caught doing the illegal operation, how many more out there managed to do it and did not get caught?

CONCLUSION

As Youth Agenda Trust, we condemn this electoral process in its entirety and call upon regional and international bodies monitoring the elections to discredit this comic process. We therefore declare the outcome of this election NULL and VOID.

We urge ZEC to immediately abandon this chaotic process and pave way for a more credible and transparent process.

via Youth Agenda Statement on elections | Sokwanele.


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One million barred from vote: monitors

THE Zimbabwe Election Support Network has said that this week’s elections could not be considered to “reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people” due to a number of pre-election issues.

ZESN which deployed over 7,000 personnel to observe the harmonised poll says the credibility of the election results are seriously compromised by a systematic effort to disenfranchise urban voters “up to a million voters”.

Solomon Zwana, ZESN chairperson urged the African Union and Southern African Development Community (SADC) to be “objective in their evaluation of these elections and take into cognisance the pre-election issues that have a bearing on the ability of citizens to genuinely choose their government”.

Zwana said the group also noted irregularities in the voter registration excise as having contributed greatly to the election outcome.

“Before election day the voter registration process was systematically biased against urban voters. The voters’ roll of 19 June as provided by the office of the registrar general clearly showed that urban voters had systematically been denied the opportunity to register to vote,” he told reporters at a news conference in Harare.

“A total of 99,97% of rural voters were registered while only 67,94% of urban voters. Over 750,000 urban voters were missing on the voters roll compared to rural voters. The final voters roll was not made available in electronic format prior to Election Day”, he said.

He added that the voters were further disenfranchised on the voting day.

“At 82% of urban polling stations many potential voters were turned away and not permitted to vote for reasons which include names not appearing on the voters roll. This is in sharp contrast to rural areas where only 38 percent of polling stations turned away many potential voters”, he said.

Zwana say these factors on their own “fundamentally undermine the degree to which the results of the 2013 harmonised election”.

via One million barred from vote: monitors.


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Statement by David Coltart re election result in Bulawayo East

I confirm that it appears I have lost the Bulawayo East Constituency to MDC T’s Thabitha Khumalo by 19 votes, although the final official result has not been announced. Whilst I obviously congratulate her and wish her well and stress that my comments are not directed against her, the entire election was fraught with serious irregularities.

Even prior to the election on Tuesday I handed a letter to the Head of the SADC Team in Bulawayo detailing 6 serious breaches of our Electoral law and Constitution which stands as record. In my view the entire election is illegal – for example I have still not received a copy of the electronic voters roll which I was entitled to and which was a key mechanism to counter rigging.

Then yesterday as the day progressed I became increasingly suspicious of what was going on in the 7 polling stations which had been sited by ZEC within a 2 kilometre radius of Brady Barracks. Suffice it to say that the election was lost in those 7 out of 40 polling stations in the Constituency with results coming out of those polling stations which bear little relation to voting patterns in them and the areas they cover in the last decade.

It has of course been impossible to analyse the voters who were resident in these areas of concern because I do not have the voters roll!

I have now been advised that Tendai Biti has lost his seat as well, along with Jameson Timba . It appears that their seats were targeted for special attention. That news along with news of the loss of Manicaland, Masvingo and Matabeleland South to Zanu PF makes it clear in my mind that the entire election is fraudulent. It also puts my loss in context.

I could not understand how Robert Mugabe could be so confident in his press conference on Tuesday when his main opponent Morgan Tsvangirai had the the day before held one of the biggest political rallies ever in his backyard. I was astounded to read in the Herald yesterday that Zanu PF were looking at obtaining a 2/3 majority in Parliament which defied all reasonable projections. It is now clear why there was this confidence. Zimbabwe has been subjected to electoral fraud on a massive scale.

David Coltart.

Bulawayo

1st August 2013

via SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe’s Independent Voice | SW Radio Africa.


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Africa in Transition » Zimbabwe Elections: A Sham

by John Campbell  August 1, 2013

Party operatives in Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party are claiming victory in yesterday’s elections. According to some observers, ZANU-PF swept constituencies that have consistently voted in the past for the opposition MDC by huge margins. Similarly, well-known and popular opposition figures have been allegedly defeated by unknown ZANU-PF candidates. Such a massive shift toward Mugabe and ZANU-PF is not credible.

The Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (ZESN) is an indigenous coalition of civil society organizations formed to observe the elections. Its chairman, Solomon Zwana, summed it up to the media: “The credibility of the 2013 harmonized elections is seriously compromised by a systematic effort to disenfranchise urban voters. Up to a million voters were disenfranchised.” He continued, “when compounded by the massive bias in the state media, the campaign of intimidation in rural areas, the lack of meaningful voter education, the rushed electoral process, and the harassment of civil society leaves the credibility of these elections severely compromised.”

Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition and longtime rival of Robert Mugabe, issued a statement: “This election has been a huge farce. Its credibility has been marred by administrative and legal violations which affect the legitimacy of its outcome.” He called it a sham election “that does not reflect the will of the people.”

Meanwhile, according to the media, Africa Union and Southern African Development Community (SADC) election observers are being quoted saying the elections were credible. (Mugabe prohibited any western election observers.) This should be no surprise. African election observers are reluctant to criticize elections in other African countries. The head of the AU observers, former Nigeria president Olusegun Obasanjo, was himself involved in three rigged elections at home, as some Zimbabweans observed when the AU announced his appointment. South Africa dominates SADC; as I blogged earlier, South African president Jacob Zuma threw over his Zimbabwe point person, Amb. Lindiwe Zulu, when Mugabe demanded it. It looks like SADC and the AU wanted the elections to “go away,” rather than insist that they be credible. Both organizations are likely to experience further issues of credibility with respect to elections in the future.

The question is what will Tsvangirai and the MDC-T do now. Will there be protests and/or violence, or will MDC-T supporters simply switch off from the political process and wait until the eighty-nine year old Mugabe leaves the scene.

via Africa in Transition » Zimbabwe Elections: A Sham.