Zimbabwe opposition party proposes sharing power
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - May 2, 2008 Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change rejected the results
and proposed forming a national unity government to include
Mugabe's party, but not Mugabe.
But Mugabe accepts the outcome and will run in the second round
of balloting, said Emmerson Mnangagwa, a top aide to Mugabe's
ruling party.
The Electoral Commission on Friday released the long-delayed
results from Zimbabwe's March 29 presidential vote, saying Mugabe
won 43.2 percent of votes and that another round of voting was
required.
"No candidate has received a majority of votes counted. A
second election will be held at a date to be announced," the
commission said in a statement.
The opposition party's secretary-general, Tendai Biti, said he
believed any runoff would be illegal and risked allowing Mugabe to
hold on to power by running opposed.
Mugabe has ruled since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, keeping
his stranglehold on power in recent years through elections that
independent observers say were marred by fraud, intimidation and
rigging.
The only way to resolve the impasse is with a "government of
national healing," Biti told a news conference in neighboring
South Africa. Most of the party's leadership, including Tsvangirai,
has been out of the country for weeks in which they accuse Mugabe
of orchestrating a campaign of violence and intimidation to cow
voters ahead of any run-off.
"Morgan Tsvangirai should be allowed to form a government of
national healing that includes all Zimbabwean stakeholders," Biti
said. "The only condition we give ... is that President Mugabe
must immediately concede."
Biti would not categorically rule out contesting a runoff, but
said there could not be one "for the simple and good reasons that
that country is burning" amid violence and an economic collapse.
Even before the results were announced, Tsvangirai's party
challenged the process, citing 120,000 unaccounted votes that could
prove he won outright.
"We just said to the electoral commission we're not moving
forward until we understand where these 120,000 votes came from,"
Tsvangirai spokesman George Sibotshiwe said hours before the
results were released.
He said the party - which says its tabulations show Tsvangirai
won with 50.3 percent of the vote - anticipated needing another
three or four days to examine the results presented to the MDC and
the ruling ZANU-PF as part of the verification process.
Independent observers had said earlier that Tsvangirai won the
most votes, but not the 50 percent plus one vote needed to avoid a
runoff.
The opposition has accused Mugabe of deliberately delaying the
release of the results to buy time to intimidate voters. Rights
groups said postelection violence in Zimbabwe has made it unlikely
a runoff could be free and fair.
But the main campaign issue for many here had been the economic
collapse of what had once been a regional breadbasket.
Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said the Constitution
requires a second round no sooner than 21 days from the
announcement of the results.