Robert Mugabe re-elected in Zimbabwe

[edotherocket 0]

Huge Mugabe win confirmed

By Carole Landry in Harare

April 03, 2005

From: Agence France-Presse

 

 

ZIMBABWE'S ruling party has steamrolled to election victory, winning a two-thirds majority and strengthening President Robert Mugabe's 25-year hold on power.

Final official results issued by the election commission today showed Mugabe's African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) won 78 seats in parliament, while the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) garnered 41 seats, a further one seat going to an independent candidate.

 

The Opposition, the United States and Britain refused to recognise the outcome, while a key observer mission led by regional powerhouse South Africa cited problems with results in a quarter of the constituencies.

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Mr Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, will be able to use the huge majority to change the constitution, giving him free rein as he prepares to retire in 2008.

 

Hailing the results as "a moment of great joy", he thanked voters and also urged the Opposition to accept defeat and "not look at it as the end of the world".

 

But Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai slammed the outcome of the elections as "disgusting, massive fraud" and accused the 81-year-old Mr Mugabe of treating Zimbabwe "like his property".

 

Mr Mugabe's election wins, along with 30 presidential appointees, give him an overwhelming majority in the 150-seat parliament.

 

However, as results emerged, the observer mission from the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) found discrepancies with the official results in 32 of the 120 contested seats.

 

"There are major queries at 32 constituencies - that's more than 25 per cent," said spokeswoman Nomfanelo Kota.

 

"The results that the candidates themselves signed at the polling stations were not the same as the results announced on national television.

 

"This doesn't mean that there are necessarily huge discrepancies in the figures."

 

Utloile Silaigwana, of the Zimbabwe Elections Commission (ZEC), earlier denied that there were problems with the results, saying officials had "not received any queries from anywhere".

 

Britain and the United States criticised the elections as neither free nor fair, but neighbouring South Africa said the outcome reflected "the free will of the people".

 

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Mr Mugabe's new government to address the "political and economic problems that have wrecked what only a few years ago was one of Africa's success stories".

 

Former colonial ruler Britain said the elections "were fundamentally flawed and further weaken Mugabe's legitimacy".

 

Mr Mugabe has said that he wants to use the two-thirds majority to create a senate and bring in some of the changes that were contained in a draft constitution that was defeated in a referendum in 2000.

 

They include an amendment that would allow the president to appoint a successor without having to call an election and immunity from prosecution for the former head of state.

 

"It means that the ruling party and the president can change the constitution willy-nilly. It's as simple as that," said Reginald Matchaba-Hove, of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network.

 

Police warned Zimbabweans against engaging in violence and said they were setting up roadblocks and stepping up patrols across the country in the wake of the elections.

 

Zimbabwe has been in the throes of crises for the past five years, facing food shortages and struggling with sky-high unemployment in what was once one of Africa's most promising economies.

 

Source: News.com.au

 

 

Curse Mugabe and his stupid little Hitler moustache. I'm hoping they'll push to nulify the results due to election fraud ala Ukraine but it looks more like going down the path that Malaysia went at this stage.

[Guest Deadbolt]

They include an amendment that would allow the president to appoint a successor without having to call an election and immunity from prosecution for the former head of state.

 

um, abuse of power much? man, africa is a wrecked continent.

[Guest MikeSC]

So, when is Jimmy Carter going to claim the election was totally clean and fair?

 

You know he wants to.

-=Mike

[edotherocket 0]

They include an amendment that would allow the president to appoint a successor without having to call an election and immunity from prosecution for the former head of state.

 

um, abuse of power much? man, africa is a wrecked continent.

How the hell would you even put any sort of positive spin on this I wonder?

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Even for African standards of living, he's made a mess of Zimbabwe.

 

"That's not America. That's not even Mexico!"