Secretary general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party Tendai Biti told journalists in Johannesburg that the party strongly believed that its leader Morgan Tsvangirai had won the March 29 presidential election with more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off. “The MDC executive resolved this morning that we would not participate in the run off and re-run. We won the presidential elections hands down and will not participate because we won the elections,” Biti said.
There are no official results of the presidential election because the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has not announced any. However, ZANU PF and independent projections show that Tsvangirai won with less than 50 percent of the vote, warranting a run-off against Mugabe. But the MDC, which had initially indicated it would participate in a run-off, says the 84-year old Mugabe has taken advantage of ZEC’s delay to issue results to prepare a campaign of violence to intimidate Zimbabweans to endorse another five years in office.
“The conditions are horrible and not capable of producing a free and fair election,” Biti said. “If the runoff would take place it will be merely a run over of the people’s choice. It will exacerbate the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe,” he added. Biti spoke as MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa announced in Harare that the opposition party had instructed lawyers to seek a court injunction stopping recounts ordered by the ZEC in five constituencies at the instigation of ZANU PF.
Chamisa said the opposition party – which ended ZANU PF’s decades old parliamentary majority by winning 99 seats against 97 won by the ruling party – would not accede to a vote recount for fear ballot boxes may have been tampered with since the vote two weeks ago. "We have received a letter from ZEC that there will be a recount in some constituencies, we will not participate in that. What guarantee do we have that the ballot boxes were not tampered with," said Chamisa.
The ruling party wants votes recounted in 21 constituencies and could easily recapture control of parliament if it wins in at least nine of those constituencies. The government, which says it remains in charge until a new president is sworn in, has ordered the arrest of scores of polling officials it accuses of rigging the vote in favour of Tsvangirai and the MDC. Tsvangirai has accused Mugabe of staging a de facto military coup to keep himself in power, telling Time Magazine in an interview that the Zimbabwean leader had deployed the army across the country in readiness to intimidate the electorate to vote for him in the anticipated second round ballot.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders will meet in Zambia on Saturday for an emergency summit to discuss ways to resolve Zimbabwe’s election impasse that Tsvangirai has warned could erupt in violence and bloodshed. Harare has virtually confirmed Mugabe’s attendance saying on Thursday he would use the summit to brief his peers on the situation in Zimbabwe. Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, holder of the rotating SADC chair, called the weekend summit amid growing calls from civic society and key political figures in the region for Mugabe’s government to allow release of poll results.
Powerful South African ruling ANC party president Jacob Zuma earlier this week urged the ZEC to release results of the presidential vote, a departure from the position of President Thabo Mbeki who has counselled patience, arguing that the international community should not intervene because the situation in Zimbabwe was still manageable. The ANC weighed in with a statement on Thursday calling for the results to be released as soon as possible. It said the Lusaka summit should reinforce SADC guidelines on free and fair elections and contribute to ending the crisis.
Meanwhile, Mbeki’s spokesman has said he is willing to meet Tsvangirai as soon as the opposition leader made a formal request. "As soon as we have a formal request we will meet with him at his earliest convenience, as the president would any other Zimbabwean leader," said the spokesman. Tsvangirai is on a diplomatic initiative to urge key regional leaders to intervene to end Zimbabwe’s election stalemate. He has so far met new Botswana President Ian Khama and Zuma. His officials said Tsvangirai was hoping to be in Lusaka on Saturday.