BBC NEWS — Zimbabwe’s electoral commission has told an all-party meeting that Morgan Tsvangirai won almost 48% in March’s presidential election, reports say.
The result would mean the Movement for Democratic Change leader is 2% short of the 50% required to avoid a run-off against President Mugabe, who won 43%.
A source at the meeting told the BBC the figures were tabled at the start of the process to verify the final result.
Earlier, Mr Tsvangirai insisted he had won an outright victory in the poll.
On Wednesday, government sources told reporters that Mr Tsvangirai had beaten the president, but had not won enough of the vote to avoid a second round.
The opposition and human rights groups have accused the authorities of waging a campaign of violence to ensure Mr Mugabe wins any run-off.
Dispute
The crucial meeting at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) offices began what officials called the “verification process”, in which representatives of the candidates each presented their calculations for the final result.
If the numbers fail to agree, the commission has said the candidates must then go back over the paperwork until they all accept the figures.
“Where we don’t agree, we will pull out every relevant document to ensure we have the same figures,” ZEC chairman George Chiweshe said beforehand. “At some stage, we have to agree.”
According to a BBC source in the meeting, commission officials said Mr Tsvangirai had won 47.8% of the vote, ahead of Robert Mugabe, who took 43.2%.
Although none of the candidates have commented on the meeting and discussions are due to resume on Friday morning, it is almost certain that a dispute is now under way, the BBC’s Peter Greste in Johannesburg says.
In an interview with France 24 television earlier, Mr Tsvangirai insisted he had won the 29 March vote outright, and that a second round was unnecessary.
Based on the results his supporters collected from individual polling stations, the MDC has “come up with a result which we feel is credible”, he said.
Mr Tsvangirai’s electoral agent, Chris Mbanga, is reported to have told the electoral commission on Thursday that the MDC leader had won 50.3%.
Mr Tsvangirai has also accused Mr Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party of using the delays to stuff ballot boxes and force the second round run-off, which he says the president plan’s to win using a combination of fraud and intimidation.
So, even if the electoral commission orders a full recount, the MDC is unlikely to accept the outcome, our correspondent says.
2 thoughts on “Zimbabwe election board says opposition won”
48% doesn’t mean nothing. He should have won like 85% and above. Mugabe got 43% which is no substantially different from the opposition. So, in order not have innocent people killed on the street, Mugabe shall continue he governship.
Dispute over an election usually leads to fraud, intimidation, beating and killing members of the winning party, and when such things happen in a clear daylight, the human rights agents get involved, accusing the governing party for using force to win an election. It is deplorable such things are happening in Zimbabwe, ill-advised by Meles Seitanawi who won the election in 2005 by fraud, intimidation, beating and killing hundreds of innocent Ethiopians. What Robert Mugabe has learnt from the 2005 Ethiopian election is that fraud and intimidation would help destroy the opposing party and put in power the ruling party. Indeed, fraud and intimidation work in a country whose general population is powerless and whose military force is bribed by the ruling party and rewarded if it crushes the opposing party. Further, the people of Zimbabwe want food in their stomach to survive, but they have no stomach to stomach any political disputes over an election determined by force and fraud. They want this year’s election to be over sooner than later so that they could mind their own businesses.
Mugabe, fearful of what would happen to him, to his family, and to his political parties after Morgan Tsvangirai wins the election to the great surprise of the Zimbabwean people, has said nothing good or bad about the election so far. I assume, he is hiding somewhere in the country, plotting against his opponent, and devising some evil schemes how to get out of Zimbabwe incase his machination to be elected fails to work out the way he wants it to.
On the other hand, Meles Seitanawi is learning very closely about the events in Zimbabwe and perhaps emailing to his close friend Mr. Mugabe never to give up power to the opposing party but to win the election using the methods Meles used in 2005 election in Ethiopia. If, however, Mugabe loses the election, Meles may invite Mugabe to come to Ethiopia and live in Ethiopia if Mugabe agrees to bring with him Mengistu Haile Mariam.
For sure, Ethiopia can handle three dictators to live peacefully in its capital city. However, Meles forced by the people whose sons and daughters slaughtered by Mengistu Haile Mariam may bring Mengistu to face justice, and the court may convict him for genocide against humanity. Then Meles would intervene and save Mengistu from being executed or sent to Kaliti because a dictator always has sympathy for the other dictator in time of hardship.
Unfortunately, the human rights groups may inform the whereabouts of these three dictators to the international court in Haig and arrest them and put them in jail for further examination on their human rights records; if the court finds them guilty, then they will remain in jail for the rest of their lives. Then the people of Zimbabwe and the people of Ethiopia will have a new era, a new life, and a new democratically elected government.