MDC blunder delayed process — SA mission

AMBASSADOR Kingsley Mamabolo, head of the South Africa observer mission, claimed the failure of the Movement for Democratic Change to supply its collations of results in Harare wards had prompted the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to release its own tallies as the final result.

A report by IOL.co.za — South Africa’s online news organisation — a blunder by the MDC caused the ZEC to publish its own figures.

Journalist Hans Pienaar writing for IOL said, “The MDC's blunder was made during the verifications of last month's re-count, which Mamabolo and others of the Southern African Development Community observer mission, headed by Angola, witnessed.”

Pienaar continues, “While the re-count had not altered the original outcomes of the parliamentary poll, giving the opposition a majority for the first time in 28 years, discrepancies in a small number of wards might have had a significant effect on the presidential result.”

The ZEC announced that President Robert Mugabe won about 43 percent and the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai just under 48 percent.

The MDC flatly rejected these figures claiming that Tsvangirai won an outright win.

ZEC figures now point to an election run-off which should be held within 21 days after results are announced.

Marwick Khumalo of Swaziland, who led the mission, said ZEC head George Chiweshe had assured him a runoff "would not extend beyond the next 12 months".  

Mamabolo said discrepancies revealed by the re-count were minute, vindicating the SADC mission's appraisal of the ZEC's professionalism and meticulousness.

But it also allowed postponement of a runoff due to conditions on the ground, such as a lack of resources. His understanding of the constitution was that Mugabe would be the caretaker ruler of Zimbabwe during this time.

IOL/Zim Guardian