Zimbabweans eager to know: Will Mugabe's reign continue?

Law enforcement in Zimbabwe discouraged groups from leaking early results in its presidential election, so the world waits to learn the outcome. Should he lose the race, President Robert Mugabe has promised to concede defeat. Mugabe, now 89, has led the country for 33 years. 

|
AP Photo
A ballot box is emptied in preparation to count votes after the Zimbabweans cast ballots in a presidential election, Wednesday in Harare. President Robert Mugabe is looking to extend his 33-year reign, while Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai hopes to unseat him.

Zimbabwe police vowed to crack down on any attempts to leak early results from Tuesday's vote, complicating plans by some civic groups to pre-empt official announcements by the country's election commission.

The move means it could be hours before the first officially collated results trickle in from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, although political parties will have immediate access to individual results posted at polling stations.

President Robert Mugabe is fighting to extend his 33-year rule in the election pitting him against main rival Morgan Tsvangirai, prime minister for the last four years under an enforced unity government brokered after a contested 2008 vote was marred by violence.

Police thwarted plans to collate election results posted outside polling stations by declaring it an offence to send results via text messaging or the Internet, said Frances Lovemore, a senior official at the Zimbabwe Election Support Network.

"At a lot of the polling stations, they've locked the public out. They're clamping down now," she told Reuters.

The Mail and Guardian newspaper, published by a Zimbabwean in neighbouring South Africa, earlier set up a Website it said would compile preliminary results based on electoral commission break-downs.

"Preliminary results are not meant to announce or declare that any particular candidate or political party is the winner," it said on the site.

Police warned at a news conference that they would act against "people who announce results of elections before the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission", news networks reported.

Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba could not be immediately reached for comment.

Zimbabweans are eager to hear the outcome of the vote, which was peaceful on the whole - unlike recent previous polls - and which they hope will unlock crucial Western donor aid needed to spur growth. Aid has been suspended over policy differences with Mugabe.

No reliable opinion polls have been released, making it difficult to gauge whether Tsvangirai will manage to defeat Mugabe.

The 89-year-old Mugabe, who denies rigging past votes to hold onto the power, says he is confident of victory, but has pledged to concede defeat should it happen.

Tsvangirai has also predicted an overwhelming win. Both Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the Movement for Democratic Change, led by his opponent, could reject results of the poll, which was dogged by logistical hitches ahead of the election.

About 6.4 million people, or half the population, were registered to vote. Results are expected within a five-day deadline intended to prevent a repeat of problems seen in the last election in 2008, when big delays triggered violent clashes.

(Additional reporting by Ed Cropley; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Zimbabweans eager to know: Will Mugabe's reign continue?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0731/Zimbabweans-eager-to-know-Will-Mugabe-s-reign-continue
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe