Britain Hails New Developments on Zimbabwe Presidential Results

Britain on Thursday described the latest developments in Zimbabwe as a head-way to breaking through weeks of political impasse following the March 2008 presidential elections. “For once, evidence has emerged that Mugabe has lost his grip on power”, said UK officials, following Zimbabwe official pronouncement Wednesday evening which showed that Zimbabwe’s opposition presidential candidate beat Robert Mugabe in the presidential election.

Official documents in the southern African state shows the Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai won 47% of the vote compared with Mr Mugabe’s 43%.

A senior official in the governing Zanu-PF party said: “These figures are in line with the official figures.”

The result, being hotly discussed among political pundits across Britain, means a run-off would now take place, as neither man secured 50%.

“This development, British politicians said, means a lot for Zimbabweans, racked with food shortages and inflation of 165,000%, who went to the polls on March 29.

Tsvangirai had earlier declared victory shortly afterwards, claiming results posted at polling stations showed he won 50.3%.

But the Zimbabwe Election Commission - appointed by Mr Mugabe - has refused to publish the results, bringing accusations of vote rigging from the MDC.

The ZEC later announced the MDC won parliamentary elections but has remained tight-lipped on the presidential vote, claiming it was still being ‘verified’.

Zanu-PF claims the MDC are ‘puppets of the West’ while the MDC says Mr Mugabe is stealing the election. Political violence has mushroomed since the vote, with both sides accusing the other of killing activists.

A UN Security Council session on Tuesday, which was split on whether to send an envoy to the country, was dismissed as ‘ sinister, racist and colonial’ by Zanu-PF.

Mr Tsvangirai has refused to confirm if he would take part in a run-off.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher