In the Murehwa South constituency, about 75 miles east of Harare, it was announced on Thursday night that 8,579 people had voted. On Friday morning, the Zanu (PF) candidate was given 19,200 votes and the MDC candidate 4,586.
According to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission, invited by Mugabe to review the poll on Thursday, the election had been “transparent and credible”.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, a South African Cabinet minister who led the SADC observer mission, said that the peaceful lead–up to the election — in stark contrast to previous campaigns — had allowed people to freely exercise their vote. “We are saying that this election was free,” she said.
One item that is no longer credible is the reputation of Thabo Mbeki:
The choices now facing the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and its courageous leader Morgan Tsvangirai are bleak indeed. The MDC has already ruled out mounting further legal challenges: the high court has still not concluded hearings on its application challenging the 2002 election result. Mr Tsvangirai has continued to reject calls for armed struggle, saying his party is committed to peaceful means. It would be a brave group indeed which would openly confront the thugs of Zanu-PF. This is not a regime that is likely to be moved by any Ukraine-style protest. And the MDC has very limited resources. It has no independent radio or TV stations, in a country where the media have been ruthlessly muzzled. Nor, faced with a Public Order Security Act which bars free assembly, does it have any sympathetic neighbouring states which can provide bases.
This is one of the most shameful aspects of the current situation. President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the powerhouse in the region, pronounced the latest Zimbabwean elections as free and fair even before they had taken place.
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