Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Harare (Agenzia Fides) - Zimbabwe continues to await, amidst tensions, the results of the presidential election that took place on March 29. Morgan Tsvangirai, the candidate for the opposition party, insists in declaring himself the first President elected in the first round of voting, affirming that he had won more than 50% of the vote. He has even asked the High Court of Justice to intervene so that the results of the election may be made known as soon as possible. The judges are scheduled to make an announcement on the issue in the coming hours.
The party of President Robert Mugabe (ZANU-PF) says that Tsvangirai has won, however without an absolute majority vote. The President’s plan is to try for a second round, challenging the victory won by Tsvangirai’s Party (Movement for Democratic Change- MDC) in Parliament, and taking measures to secure more influence. The ZNU-PF has asked for a ballot re-count in the presidential election, not only in the 16 disputed areas, but in the nation as a whole. The President has also re-opened the political issue of the occupation of lands from former European colonies that has remained unclaimed following the forced transfer of farmlands from “whites” to “blacks,” that began in 2000 and that has had serious economical repercussions on the nation. “The land should remain in our hands. The land is ours and we cannot allow it to end up in the hands of white people,” Mugabe said, in a speech published in the governmentally-bias daily newspaper “The Herald,” following the appropriation of some farms that had been property of the European colonies in the region of Masvingo. The police evacuated the majority of the occupants, except those that continue taking refuge in two of the farms.
These maneuvers have set off an alarm in the opposition party, that accuses Mugabe of deploying troops, private militias, mercenaries, and veterans in order to force a change in the voting results and dragging the country to the point of a civil war in the process.
There is a general climate of deterioration. However, some international observers maintain that behind all these acts, there is must be search for an agreement that would allow for a “smooth” transition from the Mugabe regime to a new government. This is perhaps the reason behind Tsvangirai’s trip to South Africa yesterday, April 6, after having requested interventions from the United States, Great Britain, and South Africa in order to “help us place an end to the suicidal reign of Mugabe and oblige him to step down.” Tsvangirai has also asked the International Monetary Fund to withhold a $2 billion loan destined for Zimbabwe, until Mugabe accepts his loss.
In the case of a necessary second round of voting between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, the third candidate of the presidential elections, the former Minister of the Economy, Simba Makoni, could play the role of “king maker,” encouraging his own voters to vote for one or the other of the two candidates. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 7/4/2008 righe 38, parole 497)
