AS OFFICIAL results continued to trickle in yesterday, Zimbabwe's main opposition repeated its claim the party had secured landslide victories in last Saturday's presidential and parliamentary elections, writes BILL CORCORANin Johannesburg.
Last night official results showed that of the 210 parliamentary seats available, both the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Mugabe's Zanu-PF party were neck and neck with 19 seats each.
Although the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) refused to indicate who was winning the race for the presidency, MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti maintained party leader Morgan Tsvangirai had won twice as many votes as Mr Mugabe, winning by a margin of 60 per cent to 30. The MDC, which carried out its own tallies at polling stations around the country, insisted they were also ahead in the parliamentary election, having taken 117 seats to Zanu-PF's 50 so far.
The slow release of the official results has created an atmosphere in which rumour and speculation has become rife, and fuelled allegations that the 48 hours since the polls closed have been used to rig the election in favour of Mr Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party. Riot police in armoured carriers were deployed in two of Harare's restive townships last night. A resident of one of the townships, opposition strongholds, said a convoy of riot police in about 20 vehicles moved through the area.
A member of the MDC's national executive, Eddie Cross, told The Irish Times that Mr Mugabe's attempts to steal the election had been thwarted by the ZEC and the army. "Mugabe's inner circle tried to secure a 52 per cent victory for him in the presidential race last night, but we have been told that this has failed as both the ZEC and the army have refused to support him. "We feel that the slow release of the results by the ZEC is to allow Zanu-PF to get its house in order before Morgan Tsvangirai is declared the new president," he said from his home in Bulawayo.
One confirmed result was the defeat of justice minister Patrick Chinamasa. Other unconfirmed reports claim leading members of Mr Mugabe's inner circle, including vice-president Joyce Mujuru and defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi, have lost their seats.
As tensions increased over the delays, the European Commission urged the ZEC to quickly release the country's general election results. The United States also expressed concern that Zimbabwe's election results were being delayed, and urged the country's electoral commission to ensure all votes are counted "honestly".
(Additional reporting Reuters)