blunomore
Honorary Master
Quietly, up the Zambezi, eh?![]()
I loved geography at school.
Clearly some other people fell asleep during class.
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Quietly, up the Zambezi, eh?![]()
mmmm wonder what was said at this meeting??British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he's spoken to President Thabo Mbeki and former United Nations Chief Kofi Annan about the "quite sensitive" situation in Zimbabwe.
It comes as the world waits to hear the results of the polls which the main opposition MDC party claims it's won.
Results from only a handful of constituencies have been released thus far.
The Institute for Security Studies' Chris Maroleng says while delays were expected, it wasn’t anticipated they would be so severe.
Maroleng says the Zimbabwe electoral commission is struggling as there is a high administrative burden with very little capacity.
So there aren't "official" results yet?
Harare - A team of 19 monitors from the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) on Monday gave a qualified thumbs-up to Saturday's election in Zimbabwe, in which President Robert Mugabe's 28-year rule hangs in the balance.
The PAP election observation mission told a press conference in Harare it had noticed several irregularities but said these "were not so major as to compromise the flow of the electoral process".
"However, the mission is concerned that two days after the closure of the polls, the overall outcome of the elections remains unknown," Marwick Khumalo, the chairperson of the mission, said.
"The post-election phase, including the announcement of results, remains a concern and needs to be closely monitored," he added.
Among the irregularities noted by the PAP observers were the handing out by Mugabe of tractors, ploughs and other gifts on the campaign trail.
"The timing of such generosity was unfortunate," said Khulamo, who also decried statements by the country's security chiefs vowing they would not salute a Western "puppet" - Mugabe's term for his two main opponents - Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and former Finance Minister Simba Makoni.
"These statements violate the professional ethics of the security forces and goes against the spirit of the democratic electoral process by its intimidatory nature," said Khumalo.
The MDC has claimed an outright victory in the polls, but official results are still pending. - Sapa-dpa
Big crap if MDC OR ZANU-PF win. MDC in 5 years ZANU-PF NOW
ELECTION RESULTS SO FAR last updated at 20:30 GMT, Monday, 31 March 2008 21:30 UK
Parliamentary constituencies
MDC-Tsvangirai: 30
Zanu-PF: 31
Breakaway MDC faction: 5
Yet to declare: 144
"Two senior Zanu-PF ministers are among those to have lost their seats.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa lost his seat, east of Harare. Public Affairs Minister Chen Chimutengwende has also lost his seat in Mazowe, seen as a stronghold for President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party. "
what makes u say that?
Parallel Voter Tabulation (PVT) results have been compared to the “official” Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) figures. The “official” results are emanating from the government controlled body at a snail pace and indicate massive discrepancies in certain constituencies, a clear sign Zanu PF is desperately attempting to inflate results in their favour. This is being done to reduce Morgan Tsvangirai’s presidential vote to below the 50% plus 1 result required for him to win the race in round one.
Zanu PF are slowly building overall numbers in the House of Assembly to facilitate inflated Presidential votes for Mugabe. It must be pointed out that should it come to a presidential run off, the combined forces of Morgan Tsvangirai and Simba Makoni would ensure success for the opposition. However, one cannot be certain that Mugabe’s forces have sufficient resources to go to a run off and they may well attempt to rig completely in Mugabe and ZanuPF’s favour in this first round.
At this stage the most blatant discrepancy can be clearly seen in ex-Vice President, Joice Majuru’s Mt Darwin West constituency. She recorded 6071 votes in the PVT results to win back her seat, as compared to the ZEC declared results of 13270. This constitutes inflation of over 100%. In Mashonaland Central, Shamva North constituency, Nicholas Goche polled 4195 votes in the PVT results, but the ZEC declared his win as 10385, more than double the PVT figure.
The delay in the announcement of the official results by ZEC is being strategically planned in order to give the Central Intelligence Organisation the much needed time to manipulate the results. This is blatant rigging at its most iniquitous.
The people of Zimbabwe have spoken and it is now time for Zanu PF, SADC, all other African bodies and the rest of the world to respect and support the will of the people.