Zanu-PF backs Mugabe for run-off

Zanu-PF backs Mugabe for run-off

Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party has given its backing to President Robert Mugabe's participation in a possible run-off vote.

The party's top leaders met to decide how to react to election results that have yet to be announced, six days after the presidential poll.

The opposition MDC claims its leader received enough votes to win outright.

There had been speculation that Mr Mugabe would stand aside rather than face a second poll.

The elections also saw the ruling party lose its majority in parliament for the first time since independence in 1980.

The MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) says it intends to ask the High Court to order the immediate release of results of the presidential poll.

It says its candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, took 50.3% of the vote. An independent projection says Mr Tsvangirai gained 49%, just below the threshold, with Mr Mugabe on 42%.

If indeed Tsvangirai has been elected that's fine and if there is a run-off that's fine. That is a matter we must await

Thabo Mbeki
South African President

Hundreds of Zanu-PF supporters - some of them veterans from the war against white rule that led to independence - marched through the capital, Harare, on Friday, the Associated Press news agency reported.

They said the MDC's victory claim was "a provocation against us freedom fighters".

The MDC said its offices in Harare were ransacked on Thursday. It denied that Mr Tsvangirai had gone into hiding and said he was "safe".

At least two foreign nationals were arrested in a police raid on a hotel in the capital, accused of working as journalists without accreditation.

One has been named as Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist, Barry Bearak. The other is said to be a British citizen.

Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said the authorities were trying to find out whether they were involved in espionage.

"They were taking pictures obviously of police and they annoyed the police who arrested them and we want to find out whether they are journalists or they are British or American agents - who are posing as journalists," he told the BBC.

The BBC's Grant Ferrett in Johannesburg says the raids mark the start of the campaign for a possible run-off and were intended to have a cooling effect on the opposition and the media.

'Galvanised'

Zanu-PF's secretary for administration, cabinet minister Didymus Mutasa, told the BBC's Network Africa programme: "We know them [results], there is a stalemate."

He said the party was prepared for a run-off and would be "galvanised" by the election results.


Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party has given its backing to President Robert Mugabe's participation in a possible run-off vote.

The party's top leaders met to decide how to react to election results that have yet to be announced, six days after the presidential poll.

The opposition MDC claims its leader received enough votes to win outright.

There had been speculation that Mr Mugabe would stand aside rather than face a second poll.

The elections also saw the ruling party lose its majority in parliament for the first time since independence in 1980.

The MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) says it intends to ask the High Court to order the immediate release of results of the presidential poll.

It says its candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, took 50.3% of the vote. An independent projection says Mr Tsvangirai gained 49%, just below the threshold, with Mr Mugabe on 42%.

If indeed Tsvangirai has been elected that's fine and if there is a run-off that's fine. That is a matter we must await

Thabo Mbeki
South African President

Hundreds of Zanu-PF supporters - some of them veterans from the war against white rule that led to independence - marched through the capital, Harare, on Friday, the Associated Press news agency reported.

They said the MDC's victory claim was "a provocation against us freedom fighters".

The MDC said its offices in Harare were ransacked on Thursday. It denied that Mr Tsvangirai had gone into hiding and said he was "safe".

At least two foreign nationals were arrested in a police raid on a hotel in the capital, accused of working as journalists without accreditation.

One has been named as Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist, Barry Bearak. The other is said to be a British citizen.

Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said the authorities were trying to find out whether they were involved in espionage.

"They were taking pictures obviously of police and they annoyed the police who arrested them and we want to find out whether they are journalists or they are British or American agents - who are posing as journalists," he told the BBC.

The BBC's Grant Ferrett in Johannesburg says the raids mark the start of the campaign for a possible run-off and were intended to have a cooling effect on the opposition and the media.

'Galvanised'

Zanu-PF's secretary for administration, cabinet minister Didymus Mutasa, told the BBC's Network Africa programme: "We know them [results], there is a stalemate."

He said the party was prepared for a run-off and would be "galvanised" by the election results.

Former Sierra Leone President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, who headed the AU observer mission, said Mr Mugabe had appeared "relaxed".

Mr Tejan Kabbah said he had also met Mr Tsvangirai, according to AFP, prompting further speculation that some form of African mediation effort is under way.

Mr Mugabe, 84, came to power 28 years ago at independence on a wave of optimism.

But in recent years Zimbabwe has been plagued by the world's highest inflation, as well as acute food and fuel shortages.