Maravi

Tsvangirai scores 47%, Mugabe 43%

Tsvangirai scores 47%, Mugabe 43%
By George Chellah
Saturday May 03, 2008 [04:00]

THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) yesterday announced that MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the March 29 elections by 47.9 per cent against President Robert Mugabe who polled 43.2 per cent of the votes cast. And a senior Zimbabwean government official has revealed that authorities were planning to hold the presidential run-off in the third week of this month.

ZEC chief elections officer Lovemore Sekeramayi said independent presidential candidate Simba Makoni polled 8.3 per cent of the votes.

Sekeramayi said none of the presidential candidates won the election outrightly.

"Since no candidate has received the majority of the total votes cast, a second election shall be held on a date to be announced by the commission," Sekeramayi said.

By law, a second round should be held within 21 days of the result.
And a senior government official, who is also one of President Mugabe’s campaign strategists, disclosed to The Post yesterday that it was now clear that the nation would definitely go for a presidential run-off.

“It’s very clear that none of the four presidential candidates won the election outrightly. Contrary to the opposition MDC’s claims, the verification has confirmed that Morgan Tsvangirai actually got somewhere slightly above 47 per cent and the President also got slightly above 43 per cent,” the source disclosed.

“I’m sure from the above results you will agree with me that none of the presidential candidates met the required threshold to be declared outright winner. Therefore, this leaves us with no option but to go for a presidential run-off.”

Asked when the presidential run-off, was likely to be held, the source answered: “We are planning to hold the presidential run-off somewhere around the third week of this month. To be precise, we are working around the dates between May 18 to May 24, 2008, that’s when we hope to have the runoff.”

The source further revealed that the ruling ZANU-PF was geared for the presidential run-off.

“So Tsvangirai should now return and halt his trips abroad to come and meet his people,” the source said.

But on Wednesday, MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa dismissed possibilities of a presidential runoff, saying Tsvangirai outrightly won the elections.

“Zimbabweans are suffering; the women, children and many others. Those are the issues Zimbabweans want to be resolved and resolved by a legitimate government.

Not the so-called run-offs or run-ins... that’s not going to solve the people’s problems,” Chamisa said. “We are more interested with the reconstruction programme and a new beginning for this country because that’s what people want. So the challenge before us is not a run-off but that of survival for our people.”

Asked whether the MDC would participate in a run-off, Chamisa responded: “That would not arise or happen. It’s very clear that people voted and spoke very clearly, so where will a run-off come from? We don’t see possibilities of a run-off unless the result is a cooked one.”

And during the verification and collation of the presidential election results in Harare on Thursday, ZEC deputy chief elections officer Utloile Silaigwana said the commission presented its results to all political parties represented.

He said the verification process was meant to allow parties compare their final statistics with the ZEC results before they could be announced to the public.

Silaigwana said the MDC and independent candidate Towungana indicated to the meeting that their final results did not tally with those submitted by the electoral commission.

He said the ZEC adjourned the meeting to give the two parties with queries an opportunity to present their figures for comparison with the commission’s figures.
“If the figures do not tally, then they have to prove their source of results,” Silaigwana said.

At the verification process, President Mugabe was represented by ZANU-PF secretary for legal affairs Emmerson Mnangagwa, Tsvangirai was represented by Morgan Komichi and Chris Mbanga, while Makoni and Towungana were present during the process.

Labels: ELECTIONS, ZEC, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 3:28 AM