Zimbabwe Refuses to Accept Opposition Preconditions on Election Run-off

The government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says it will not bow to opposition pressure for independent verification of the disputed election results and pledged to go ahead with a controversial presidential election second round.

Deputy information minister, Bright Matonga on Tuesday blasted the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) for alleging that final presidential election results announced last Friday were doctored to deny MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai victory.

He challenged the MDC to prove its claims and insisted an anticipated presidential election run-off pitting President Mugabe and Tsvangirai would go ahead despite pre-conditions for participation by the opposition.

“It must be noted that ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) does not take orders from the MDC and that the run-off will proceed on ZEC terms and at a date to be set by ZEC,” Matonga said.

ZEC is the body in charge of running all elections in Zimbabwe. Its credibility has been questioned by local and international organizations during the past month after it withheld for more than four weeks the final results of presidential polls held on March 29.

The MDC refused to accept the final ZEC results that showed that Tsvangirai had won the first round after amassing 47.9 percent of the votes against Mugabe’s 43.2 percent.

The opposition party accuses election officials of tampering with the results to deny Tsvangirai more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a second round.

The MDC has since the weekend kept the world guessing on whether it would participate in the run-off.

It has instead listed conditions that have to be met for Tsvangirai to take part in the run-off poll.

These include that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) must verify the results of the first round presidential election announced by the ZEC.

SADC has, however, said it saw nothing wrong with the manner in which presidential election results were announced.

The MDC also wants the second round presidential election to be held under United Nations supervision.

The Zimbabwean authorities fear that the UN observer mission would be hijacked by former colonial master Britain and her Western allies who have been fighting Harare since 2000 when President Mugabe compulsorily took farmland from whites.

Source African Press Agency

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