I will occasionally update in the comments.
It would appear that, whatever the slow-to-come-in official results say, Mugabe and his party suffered a defeat of major proportions in Saturday’s presidential, legislative, and local elections. From The Independent:
At least nine of Mr Mugabe’s politburo, his inner circle, were out of a job according to official results posted at polling stations in their own constituencies.
As evidence emerged of what appeared to be a landslide for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s electoral commission – Mugabe placemen all – were hiding out in the capital, refusing to release results of the presidential poll.
What nobody could stop were independently verified, lawfully reported parliamentary and senate results as the count finished at each of the 9,000 polling stations nationwide. And the early results were stunning.
Provisional findings, leaked to The Independent last night by a senior source at the electoral commission, indicated that Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change had taken 191 of 210 parliamentary seats, with the remainder split between the ruling Zanu-PF and the smaller MDC faction backing the ruling party defector Simba Makoni.
Were those results to be reflected in the presidential contest, as expected, it would deliver a resounding first round victory to Mr Tsvangirai,1 a former union leader, and bring down the curtain on the only president Zimbabwe has ever known.
My emphasis. For the moment at least, that there was an election is forgotten, at least if one were to rely on state media.
Throughout the day, state television ignored the most important election since independence in 1980, broadcasting a bizarre mixture of cartoons, church sermons and 1970s football matches.
The entire story is quite worth a read.
See also The Democratic Piece:
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) released a press statement this afternoon with the results of its Sample Based Observation… [that] show opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC in the lead with 49.4% of the vote, coming out ahead of 28-year ruler Robert Mugabe with 41.8%. Simba Makoni, a recent challenger within Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, comes in a distant third with 8.2%.
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- The presidency is elected by two-round majority, though legislative seats are elected by first past the post. [↩]
Wow–I was honestly only paying semi-attention, as I assumed that he would cook the books.
Amazing!
Seed planted by Steven Taylor — 31 March 2008 @ 14:37
Well, I think his election commissioners are still in the “kitchen.” But their concoction could blow up on the old man.
Seed planted by MSS — 31 March 2008 @ 14:47
All Africa has an update on the “cooking” as well as what the opposition parties are claiming was the “real” result:
It then says that sources within the ZEC say:
Seed planted by MSS — 31 March 2008 @ 16:32
Does Mugabe have an escape plan?
The winner of the election, perhaps?
Seed planted by MSS — 31 March 2008 @ 16:36
I would be abandoning the high tradition of pedants everywhere if I did not point out that Mugabe is not the only president Zimbabwe has known. Zimbabwe’s first president was the unfortunate Canaan Banana who was the ceremonial president until 1987 when Mugabe moved from the prime ministership to the presidency.
Seed planted by Alan — 31 March 2008 @ 18:30
Wow, who could ever forget Canaan Banana!
Seed planted by MSS — 31 March 2008 @ 18:39
Latest (early 1 April in Harare) from The Independent:
On the trickle of official results:
The article includes a list of the defeated members of Mugabe’s inner circle, including Joyce “Spill Blood” Mujuru.
Seed planted by MSS — 31 March 2008 @ 19:41
> ‘six cabinet ministers, the Vice-President… have lost their “safe†seats already’
I believe Kenya has, or had, a similar system – a “pure” Presidential system except that Ministers (and VP) are required, not forbidden, to hold seats as elected members of the legislature.
Seed planted by Tom Round — 31 March 2008 @ 20:37
Elections in Zimbabwe
This weekend, Zimbabwe had presidential and legislative elections. I must confess, that despite a long-standing interest in the case, I did not pay too much attention to the results as they started coming out on Monday, as I assumed (with cause) that Robert Mugabe (perpetrator of one of the most remarkable destructions of a national economy that had nothing to do with military invasion that I can think of) would cook the books, making the election a moot process. And, indeed, that may yet be the outcome.
Scion grafted by PoliBlog — 01 April 2008 @ 09:28
Wow, who could ever forget Canaan Banana!
Well, Prince Philip did once ask him if he’d come to the UK alone or in a bunch.
Seed planted by Jonathan Edelstein — 05 April 2008 @ 00:48