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ZANU-PF: Mugabe Ready for Runoff

by Jordan Yerman | April 4, 2008 at 01:41 pm

339 views | 15 Recommendations | 3 comments

According to ZANU-PF, Zimbabwe's ruling party, Robert Mugabe would be willing to face top rival Morgan Tsvangirai in a runoff election, should the vote tallies require.

The announcement by Zanu-PF was made before official results of the March 29 presidential race were announced by the Electoral Commission, which will have the final say in whether a second round of voting occurs.

A runoff is required when neither candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote. Last Saturday, voters also cast ballots for House and Senate seats and local council members. The commission is required by law to release final figures six days after an election.

According to George Sibotshiwe, a spokesman for Tsvangirai's party, a runoff must be held within 21 days of the announcement of election results.

Mugabe's party is in disarray, split between those who think Mugabe should gracefully step down and those who say he should fight to stay in office, a party member said Thursday.

More NowPublic coverage of the ongoing story can be found here.

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BigT

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 14:24 on April 4th, 2008

I guess it was a little premature to be writing Mr. Mugabe's dictatorship obituary.

Roberto Alvarez-Galloso

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 17:11 on April 4th, 2008

jordan, I like this story. It's good stuff. According to the Zimbabwe Independent, ZANU-PF has a slight lead by one seat in the Senate Race and Mugabe is contemplating ruling by decree. The Runoff is reminding me of the referendum of 2000 when he lost.

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20068:mugabe-in-tight-spot&catid=31:local-zimbabwe-stories&Itemid=66

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20067:-contemplates-rule-by-decree&catid=31:local-zimbabwe-stories&Itemid=66

Roberto Alvarez-Galloso

at 13:49 on April 5th, 2008

According to BBC News, Mugabe's Police blocked the MDC from filing a petition to Zimbabwe's Highest Court to have the official presidential results released. According to Reuter's News Agency, members of the police left the presidential compound in front of the court and actually blocked the MDC. Regardless, Morgan Tsvangerai have asked for a peaceful dialogue with Mugabe in order to facilitate a democratic transition. In other news, the final electiion results minus the Presidential Elections shows the Senate evenly split between MDC and ZANU-PF while the Parliament is dominated by the MDC. I am ready to inform Now Public about what is happening and if any new changes ensue. Regardless, Mugabe is already proved with his actions [including the crackdown on opposition headquarters] that he will not go without a fight.

SOURCE:

BBC News: "Mugabe Preparing for Poll War"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7332334.stm