Maravi

Zim polls contest still tight

Zim polls contest still tight
By Kingsley Kaswende and George Chellah in Harare, Zimbabwe
Wednesday April 02, 2008 [04:00]

The contest for parliamentary seats is still tight between the ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition MDC, with 130 of 210 counted as at noon yesterday. Official results released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) by 13:00 hours yesterday indicated that ZANU-PF had won 63 seats while MDC was closely following with 62. The rest of the seats - five of them - had been won by the Prof Arthur Mutambara faction of the MDC who himself lost the election in Zengeza West constituency.

The results received were mostly from Matabeleland South, parts of Masvingo, Bulawayo, Harare, Manicaland, Mashonaland East, West and Central.
The percentages of people who voted in all these areas range from 30 to 54 per cent. Only four seats managed above 50 per cent voter turnout.

So far, 21 women have been elected as compared to 109 men.
There were no results announced yet from the Presidential and Senate elections but ZEC said presidential results had started coming in and were being verified and collated in the presence of election agents from all political parties.

The results have been coming out slowly since the end of voting on Saturday evening.
ZEC deputy chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana said more results would continue to be released after the usual verification process.

“Results of councillors, House of Assembly representatives and Senators were announced at respective wards and these are now known, but we are still in the process of collating the Presidential ballot,” Silaigwana said in a telephone interview.
He said results that had been pasted outside polling stations were official though the electoral body was still in the process of verifying them.

Silaigwana, who is also ZEC spokesperson, said results for the Presidential race would be announced later, as ZEC was in the process of collating them.
He advised that voting results were pasted on polling stations for the benefit of the electorate.

The results have seen some former ministers in the recently dissolved Cabinet losing their parliamentary seats
These include transport minister Christopher Mushohwe, and Justice, Legal and Parliamentary affairs minister Patrick Chinamasa.

Labels: ELECTIONS, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 8:49 AM