The New Nation - Internet Edition

Dr.Abdul Ruff

The national elections in Zimbabwe were held on 29 March - a month ago. The final results of parliamentary and presidential polls have still not been published - more than four weeks after the elections. Latest indications reveal that Zimbabwe is heading for a unity government. After a long wait in obtaining the final victors in the polls, it seems, some mediators in Zimbabwe are negotiating for a unity government by the national parties, both ruling and opposition. The continued bitter war for power by major parties in this African state has forced a few statesmen to push for a Unity Government and help usher in a sort of peaceful atmosphere in the country.

According to a formula being so worked out, "whoever wins" Zimbabwe's presidential election in the recount will have to form a government of national unity, the country's UN ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku has said. "There is no way anybody can do without the other", he said arguing that neither side could really control parliament. He is the second government source to make this suggestion in a week. The final parliamentary results are due to be released shortly, after which presidential results will be verified.

Last week, the Herald, seen as a government mouthpiece, ran an opinion piece calling for a government of national unity. It would be possible, it viewed, for the rival political leaders to work together and pointed to the example of Kenya, where a power-sharing government was set up after violence in which 1,500 people were killed.

The contest pitted Mugabe, the 84-year-old who has been in power for 28 years, and Tsvangirai, 56. Over the weekend, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission released the results of recounts in 18 seats, which confirmed that Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence in 1980. The original results showed that the combined opposition had 109 seats, against 97 for Zanu-PF. Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has already conceded it lost control of the country's parliament for the first time since taking power after independence from Britain in 1980. A recount of the March 29 vote in 18 out of 23 constituencies showed no change in previous results, giving a historic victory to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The recount unfavorable to Mugabe notwithstanding, even after a month the results are not announced in Zimbabwe. "It's definitely a world record and it's not something to be proud of," said Zimbabwean independent MP and former Mugabe ally Jonathan Moyo. "And, when it comes, its credibility will be irretrievably compromised," he said. But the ruling party dismissed as "totally false" the argument that the delay was to give Zanu-PF time to rig the outcome. He pointed out that similar claims were made when the electoral commission said it was recounting 23 parliamentary results. In the re-count, the MDC had predicted that the recount of 23 parliamentary results would be fixed in order to let Zanu-PF retain its majority.

The MDC says 15 of its supporters have been killed since the elections. More than 200 of its activists were arrested during a police raid on its Harare headquarters last Friday. A judge has ordered that they should either be charged or set free, following an MDC petition. The police said they were looking for suspects involved in attacks on ruling party supporters but the MDC said those arrested had fled their homes after being victims of attacks.

Zanu-PF spokesman Bright Matonga said the results showed that Zimbabwe's electoral system was "transparent". Mugabe's allies say the scale of the violence has been exaggerated. Meanwhile, the state-owned Herald newspaper reports that opposition supporters attacked an army training camp, leaving one person dead. Elections officials say that the process of verifying presidential results will start after final parliamentary results are announced. But they warn it could take as long as a week, as they will only be released after both sides agree.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's rival opposition factions say they have reunited, declaring they have a majority in parliament. The announcement was jointly made by Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, whose faction split in 2005. At a joint news conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tsvangirai and Mutambara announced that they were now working together.

The two MDC factions on 28 April said they had reunited and would therefore have a majority in parliament. This was confirmed over the weekend, when the unchanged results of 18 of 23 seats being recounted were released. But a two-thirds majority was needed to change the constitution and said there was a "hung parliament". However, President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF governed without such a majority between 2000 and 2005. Tsvangirai claims he beat President Robert Mugabe outright in the polls. But independent monitors and Mugabe's allies say that neither candidate passed the threshold of more than 50% of the vote required to be declared the president. Representatives of the presidential candidates are set to meet the electoral commission to review the results of the disputed presidential election - officials say these will be released when the rival candidates agree on them.

This meant that President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party was now in the minority, they said. "Mugabe should concede that he cannot be president without controlling the parliament," Tsvangirai said. "The old man must go and have an honorable exit." The opposition announcement is considered a significant move.

The MDC's reunification would make it harder for Mugabe to win any run-off, although Tsvangirai says he would not take part. He says the delay is intended to give Mugabe's supporters time to intimidate opposition supporters in rural areas. This is strongly denied by Zanu-PF officials, who accuse the opposition of exaggerating the scale of the violence. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) now plans to invite Mugabe and Tsvangirai to a final "verification and collation exercise", where they will compare their own vote tallies with the ZEC's own, according to the Sunday Mail, a state-run national newspaper and government mouthpiece. Analysts agreed that the presidential election results would be published later this week, but said that the recount was a delaying tactic aimed at securing victory for Mugabe through a campaign of violence.

Meanwhile, The USA has pressed South Africa, having considerable influence over Mugabe, to use its influence to defuse the post-election crisis in Zimbabwe, without openly criticizing South African President Thabo Mbeki.

More than four weeks after general elections in Zimbabwe, the official results for the presidential vote have yet to be announced. Obviously, Mugabe is keen not only to retain power at any cost, but, more importantly, also not to let the "foreign stooges" to govern Zimbabwe. But the verdict of the people has to be respected, though. One does not know if he would prefer a re-poll to sort out the issue with the opposition. Tsvangirai says he has already won the election outright and has called on Mugabe to step down. "The old man must go and have an honorable exit." But independent monitors and Mugabe's allies say that neither candidate passed the threshold of more than 50% of the vote required to be declared the president and so a run-off will needed. The MDC says 15 of its supporters have been killed since the elections and hundreds forced to flee their homes.

Since the opposition is united with a thumping majority to claim for forming government, they want Mugabe to quit the scene. A report on the situation in Zimbabwe is to be presented to the UN Security Council soon. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has called on the UN to send a special envoy and to warn President Robert Mugabe that increasing violence against opposition activists amounts to "crimes against humanity".

Of course, the serious concern of the opposition MDC about the faltering or hanging poll verdict should be taken in to account by the UNSC and a solution should be found to put an end to the poll/democratic turmoil in Zimbabwe.