Posted on 03/30/2008 10:26:32 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's electoral commission on Monday started announcing results of the country's election after a long delay.
The first six parliamentary constituencies announced were split between President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, the commission said.
The MDC, which claims it has scored an overwhelming victory, accused the government of delaying announcement of the result to rig the poll.
Monday 31 March 2008
Chegutu West
MDC (Tsv) 6772
ZANU PF 3 713
MDC (Mut) 750
Goromonzi West
MDC (Tsv) 5 931
ZANU (PF) 6 193
Mutoko North
ZANU PF 6 922
MDC (Tsv) 3163
Indep 3023
MDC (Mut) 1065
Mutasa South
MDC Tsv 8 207
ZANU PF 3 409
Indep 412
Mutare Central
MDC (Tsv) 7 284
ZANU PF 2 322
MDC Mut 639
Indep 117
ZPPDP 21
Chipinge Central
ZANU PF 6 377
MDC (Tsv) 5 862
ZANU PF is Mugabe’s “party’s” vote tote
ap on yahoo
Zimbabwe releases first election results
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080331/ap_on_re_af/zimbabwe_elections;_ylt=Aghrm7gXONOFBnf4QQVDXlVvaA8F
HARARE, Zimbabwe - The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has announced the first official results of presidential and legislative elections.
The opposition has already claimed victory in the vote that posed the biggest threat ever to President Robert Mugabe’s 28-year rule.
Deputy Chief Elections Officer Utoile Silaigwana, in an announcement broadcast live Monday on state radio and television, declared the results for six parliamentary seats three of which went to Mugabe’s ruling party and three to the opposition.
I have been looking for good sources to get vote totes,, this one may have more info than any official site I have found so far..
http://zimbabwemetro.com/2008/03/30/2008-election-results/
Presidential Election
Updated 60 minutes ago
Robert Gabriel Mugabe ZANU PF 393 112 Processing
Morgan Tsvangirai MDC -Tsvangirai 682 309 Processing
Simba Herbert Stanley Makoni Independent 257 072 Processing
Langton Towungana Independent 9758 Processing
"Oh, that isn't the thug who paid me? Well, who the hell DID pay me this time?... Oh, yeah.. ROBERT MUGABE has won! ... Who cares if the results haven't been announced as yet?"
“I am Jimmy Carter and I am here to certify the free and fair elections which guarantee the continuation in office of that great statesman and democrat, Robert Mugabe.”
afp on yahoo
Opposition takes early lead in Zimbabwe election
Godfrey Marawanyika
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe’s opposition took an early lead in the country’s elections Monday as authorities finally released the first batch of results after being accused of trying to help Robert Mugabe cling to power.
The Movement for Democratic Change party, led by Mugabe’s old rival Morgan Tsvangirai, won four out of the first six parliamentary seats to be announced nearly 36 hours after the close of polls on Saturday. The other two were won by Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party.
The MDC won the first seat to be declared, the newly-formed constituency of Chegutu West, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of the capital Harare, commission spokesman Utoile Silaigwana told reporters in Harare.
A total of 210 parliamentary seats are due to be declared as well as the result of the simultaneous presidential election in the troubled southern African country, which has the world’s highest rate of inflation.
reuters update
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC and ruling ZANU-PF were running neck-and-neck, according to the first election results issued by the Electoral Commission on Monday.
The commission started announcing the results from Saturday’s election shortly before 7 a.m. (1:00 a.m. EDT) after a long delay prompted the opposition to accuse President Robert Mugabe of trying to rig the vote to stay in power.
The first six parliamentary constituencies were evenly split between Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said the commission.
Riot police appeared on the streets of Zimbabwe’s capital overnight and the state-run Herald newspaper accused the MDC of “preparing its supporters to engage in violence by pre-empting results, claiming they had won.”
Mugabe, 84, faced the biggest test of his 28-year-rule in the election because of Zimbabwe’s economic collapse and a two-pronged opposition attack that put him under unprecedented political pressure.
He is being challenged by veteran rival Tsvangirai and former finance minister and ruling ZANU-PF party official Simba Makoni. Both accuse the former guerrilla leader of wrecking a once prosperous economy and reducing the population to misery.
Although the odds seem stacked against Mugabe, analysts believe his iron grip on the country and backing from the armed forces could enable him to declare victory.
The commission began issuing the results nearly 36 hours after polls closed. Results in past votes have started emerging soon afterwards.
Mugabe’s government warned the opposition it would regard victory claims as a coup attempt. The president, in power since independence from Britain, accuses the West of sabotaging Zimbabwe’s economy and rejects vote-rigging allegations.
Zimbabwe is suffering from the world’s highest inflation rate of more than 100,000 percent, chronic shortages of food and fuel, and an HIV/AIDS epidemic that has contributed to a steep decline in life expectancy.
COMPLEXITY
Electoral Commission chairman George Chiweshe said the delay was caused by the complexity of holding presidential, parliamentary and local polls together for the first time, and the need to verify results meticulously.
“Mugabe has lost the election. Everyone knows no one voted for Mugabe, but they are now trying to cook up a result in his favour,” MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti said on Sunday.
Two South African members of a regional observer mission said the delay in announcing the election results “underscores the fear that vote-rigging is taking place.”
They refused to sign a positive preliminary report on the poll by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and said there was evidence of “widespread and convincing” MDC wins.
SADC mission chairman Jose Marcos Barrica of Angola told reporters through an interpreter the election had been a “peaceful and credible expression of the will of the people.”
Barrica expressed concern about the voters roll, opposition access to the media and statements by the heads of security forces who had said they would not accept an opposition victory.
But he said: “We saw that the basic conditions for a free and fair election were there.”
The dissenting SADC mission members, who belong to South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance, said in a statement: “It is impossible for this deeply flawed electoral process to be viewed as a credible expression of the will of the people.”
The SADC, which critics say has been too soft on Mugabe, has unsuccessfully tried to mediate an end to Zimbabwe’s crisis, which has turned a quarter of the population into refugees.
Zimbabwe’s security forces, which have thrown their weight firmly behind Mugabe, said before the election they would not allow a victory declaration before counting was complete.
Government spokesman George Charamba warned the opposition against such claims. “It is called a coup d’etat and we all know how coups are handled,” he told the state-owned Sunday Mail.
Residents in the eastern opposition stronghold of Manicaland said riot police stopped a victory demonstration by about 200 MDC supporters on Sunday. There was no violence, they said.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
sad to say it but you may well be right,, here’s to the struggle that lies ahead for the Zimbabwean people and their eventual victory over tyranny..
Does anyone know whether the opposition would be any better? It’s hard to imagine worse, but it could happen.
Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything. Attributed to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin
Mr. Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition MDC, has to be admired for his persistence. The poor man has been beaten to a pulp regularly by the ZANU-PF thugs, but he keeps coming back. I've read that many outside of Zimbabwe worry that he may not be up to the task of actually running the country, but at this point he's the best hope the pepole of that ravaged country have. It will take years to rebuild what was once Africa's most prosperous country, but I think that rebulding has to start with Mr. Tsvangirai - for better or worse.
Just to give you a clue of how bad things are there: I've seen estimates that Mugabe's vote rigging could get him somewhere around 20% of the vote right off the bat. But, he still might lose! Can you imgaine a candidate starting with a +20% handicap and still losing?
I pray that the MDC will win despite the unfairness of the election. The thing I am most worried about is: what then? I just can't see Mugabe peacefully ceding power. But, it looks like the ranks of the ZANU-PF are starting to crack. Mr. Makoni's candidacy is evidence of that in itself.
The map on this page is VERY disturbing:
http://www.sokwanele.com/map/all_breaches
...and the link you posted upthread in post 4, which was working early this morning (1:00am Pacific Time), is now “broken”.
If Mugabe is ousted, I think it will truly have to be an act of Divine intervention.
...and the link you posted upthread in post 4, which was working early this morning (1:00am Pacific Time), is now broken.
—
That site sucks, quite frankly..
Go to the Home Page and hit the 2008 Election Results os the 2008 Elections tab and it should take you to the new page and results.
Isn’t a little strange that every time new results are announced it still puts the parties exactly level?
Does that bastard Mugabe really think people are that stupid?
I just saw a report on the ITV news which seemed to suggest the MDC candidate might well have ‘just enough’ of the votes to declare victory and some sort of announcement might happen within the hour.
This would be just incredible. A quite shocking and unexpected result - in that the criminal dictator Mugabe might well have failed to rig this election.
Now there’s a fun job. Call it for MDC and Mugabe’s thugs shoot you. Call it for ZANU-PF and the mob tears you to pieces.
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