Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's party claimed on Friday that it was headed for victory in crunch elections branded a “sham” by his rivals as international observers prepared to hand down their verdict on Friday.
A leading opposition figure called for “passive resistance” over the outcome of Wednesday's presidential and parliamentary elections, which the opposition and local monitors charge was riddled with flaws.
Mugabe's Zanu-PF forecast a landslide victory for the 89-year-old veteran leader over his longterm rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who is bidding to end his three-decade grip on power.
“It's the prediction that the president might likely get 70 to 75 percent,” party spokesman Rugare Gumbo told AFP.
Early official results for the National Assembly showed that Zanu-PF had so far won 52 of 62 seats announced out of a total of 210 up for grabs.
But Tsvangirai, trying for the third time to unseat his firebrand rival, on Thursday slapped down the victory claims.
“It's a sham election that does not reflect the will of the people,” he said, pointing to a litany of alleged irregularities.
“In our view this election is null and void,” he said. “This election has been a huge farce.”
Foreign diplomats and independent local election observers also expressed deep misgivings about the poll, the first since violent, flawed elections in 2008 which saw Mugabe and Tsvangirai forced into an uneasy power-sharing deal.
“Up to a million voters were disenfranchised,” said Solomon Zwana, chairman of Zimbabwe Election Support Network, which has 7 000 observers. “The election is seriously compromised.”
Tsvangirai, 61, stopped short of claiming victory himself, a move that could have fuelled tensions in the sanctions-hit country where political violence is common.
But top MDC official Roy Bennett called for a campaign of “passive resistance”.
“I'm talking about people completely shutting the country down - don't pay any bills, don't attend work, just bring the country to a standstill.”
“There needs to be resistance against this theft and the people of Zimbabwe need to speak out strongly.”
Since no Western groups were allowed to monitor the polls, the view of observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) may now be pivotal in deciding how the international community reacts.
The SADC said it will deliver its verdict on Friday.
The African Union, accused of whitewashing problems in the run-up to the vote, said initial reports indicated it was “peaceful, orderly, free and fair”.
While there were “little incidences here and there”, these did not flaw the election “to the point of not reflecting the will of the people,” said former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, who led the AU mission.
However, the disputed outcome risks plunging Zimbabwe - which battled a decade-long downturn marked by galloping inflation and mass migration - back into deep political crisis.
The Catholic Church - which has 3 000 people on the ground - said it was premature to call a winner but there was a “strong feeling” across the country that Mugabe would lose.
“If certain people feel their choice was not accepted, they may resort to violence. That potential is still there,” a church spokesman said.
Jeffrey Smith, from the Washington-based Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights, said that while it would be wrong to rush to disregard the final results, “we must also not be blind to potential irregularities both leading up to the vote and on the day”.
Mugabe - Africa's oldest leader - is a former guerrilla leader hailed as a hero of Africa's liberation movement, guiding Zimbabwe to independence in 1980 from Britain and white minority rule.
But his military-backed rule has been marked by controversial land reforms, a series of violent crackdowns, economic crises and suspect elections that have brought international sanctions and made him a pariah in the West.
As the economy in southern Africa's former bread basket recovers from crisis, Mugabe loyalists insist their hero is “tried and tested” and dismiss concerns about his age and rumoured health problems.
Former union boss Tsvangirai won the first round of voting in 2008, but was forced out of the race after 200 of his supporters were killed and thousands more injured in suspected state-backed intimidation and attacks.
This time around he announced plans to lure back foreign investors, create a million jobs in five years and improve public services in a bid to secure a long-awaited victory.
But some Western analysts said this could be Tsvangirai's last bid at the top job if the MDC fails to prevent Mugabe sweeping to a seventh term. - Sapa-AFP
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