International Observers Fear Over “delayed” Zimbabwe Election Results

International observers for the weekend election in Zimbabwe have expressed fears over the delays in announcing the official poll result. Representatives of the world media in the UK are equally worried by the “no comment approach” adopted by the Zimbabwean High Commission in London.

Their worries heightened with speculation on Sunday and Monday that President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF “have recruited dead voters” to boost election rigging.

The head of one monitoring group said: “We believe officials know the results although they had yet to been released.”

Marwick Khumalo, head of the Pan-African Parliamentary Observer Mission, was quoted by observers in London saying: “I am worried! These are the delays that start causing problems in a country”.

The Zimbabwe leading opposition MDC has already claimed victory, saying it had won the most crucial election since independence.

Tendai Biti, secretary general of the party, told the diplomats and observers that early results showed “we were victorious”.

However, the government has warned that “any premature victory claims would be treated as an attempted coup”.

The results of the election were due to start being announced on Sunday night, as voting ended on Saturday evening.

MDC says it was concerned about delays in announcing results “which traditionally begin emerging soon after polls close”.

The party said it was aware the results are final in most constituencies “but they are deliberately taking their time to announce.”

Zimbabwe’s security forces said before the election they would not allow a victory declaration before counting was complete.

Government spokesman George Charamba also warned the opposition against such claim.

“It’s is called a coup d’etat and we all know how coups are handled,” he said.

Source African Press Agency

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