AI
Tuesday, April 01, 2008 4:52:40 AM
Ruling party, opposition level in Zimbabwe results
Tue Apr 1, 2008 2:17am AEDT
Two cabinet members from Robert Mugabe's
ruling party have been beaten in their
respective constituencies.
(AFP: Jekesai Njikizana)
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF continued to be at level-pegging as the results trickled in from a weekend general election, despite two prominent cabinet members losing their seats.
With 38 of the 210 parliamentary seats so far declared, the MDC and the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front had both won 19 constituencies, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced to reporters at its Harare headquarters.
Among the notable early results saw Mugabe's outgoing justice minister Patrick Chinamasa beaten in the rural eastern constituency of Makoni Central.
A second cabinet member, Chen Chimutengwende, also lost his seat in Mazowe central, a rural constituency near Harare.
As well as choosing lawmakers, voters went to the polls on Saturday to choose a president and local councillors.
The opposition MDC said unofficial tallies showed its leader Morgan Tsvangirai had 60 per cent of the presidential vote, twice the total for Mr Mugabe, with more than half the results counted.
Mr Mugabe, 84, faces unprecedented pressure because of Zimbabwe's economic collapse and a two-pronged attack by veteran rival Mr Tsvangirai and ZANU-PF defector Simba Makoni.
The MDC said its tally showed it had won 96 parliamentary constituencies out of 128 counted. Mr Makoni had 10 per cent of the unofficial presidential vote count.
"In our view, as we stated before, we cannot see the national trend changing. This means the people have spoken, they've spoken against the dictatorship," said MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti.
The relatively slow pace of announcements has also prompted the opposition to accuse the commission of deliberately sitting on the results in a bid to fix the election in favour of Mr Mugabe who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980.
Zimbabwe is suffering the world's highest inflation of more than 100,000 percent, chronic shortages of food and fuel, and an HIV/AIDS epidemic that has contributed to a steep decline in life expectancy.
-AFP/Reuters
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/01/2204160.htm?section=justin
Tue Apr 1, 2008 2:17am AEDT
Two cabinet members from Robert Mugabe's
ruling party have been beaten in their
respective constituencies.
(AFP: Jekesai Njikizana)
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF continued to be at level-pegging as the results trickled in from a weekend general election, despite two prominent cabinet members losing their seats.
With 38 of the 210 parliamentary seats so far declared, the MDC and the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front had both won 19 constituencies, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced to reporters at its Harare headquarters.
Among the notable early results saw Mugabe's outgoing justice minister Patrick Chinamasa beaten in the rural eastern constituency of Makoni Central.
A second cabinet member, Chen Chimutengwende, also lost his seat in Mazowe central, a rural constituency near Harare.
As well as choosing lawmakers, voters went to the polls on Saturday to choose a president and local councillors.
The opposition MDC said unofficial tallies showed its leader Morgan Tsvangirai had 60 per cent of the presidential vote, twice the total for Mr Mugabe, with more than half the results counted.
Mr Mugabe, 84, faces unprecedented pressure because of Zimbabwe's economic collapse and a two-pronged attack by veteran rival Mr Tsvangirai and ZANU-PF defector Simba Makoni.
The MDC said its tally showed it had won 96 parliamentary constituencies out of 128 counted. Mr Makoni had 10 per cent of the unofficial presidential vote count.
"In our view, as we stated before, we cannot see the national trend changing. This means the people have spoken, they've spoken against the dictatorship," said MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti.
The relatively slow pace of announcements has also prompted the opposition to accuse the commission of deliberately sitting on the results in a bid to fix the election in favour of Mr Mugabe who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980.
Zimbabwe is suffering the world's highest inflation of more than 100,000 percent, chronic shortages of food and fuel, and an HIV/AIDS epidemic that has contributed to a steep decline in life expectancy.
-AFP/Reuters
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/01/2204160.htm?section=justin
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