FORMER Transport Minister Christopher Mushohwe has lost his constituency to the Movement for Democratic Change faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai in the latest batch of results announbced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
THE Crisis Coalition of Zimbabwe, a grouping of civic society organisations in Zimbabwe, has petitioned the SADC Heads of State and the AU heads of state and governement to urgently exert pressure on the Zimbabwe government to allow that the March 29 results are released immediately without being tampered with.
President Robert Mugabe, through the Joint Opperations Command (JOC), according to sources, has ordered the Zimbabwe Electoral Commision to hold on to the presidential result as the regime ponders the possibilties rigging.
McDonald Lewanika, the coalition's spokesperson said they found it necessary to send the urgent petition in order to save the country from sinking into "complete anarchy" if election results are manipulated.
Zimbabweeans voted on the 29th March for the national president, members of parliament and councillors.
"The biggest concern that has emerged is the inordinate delay in the announcing of the election results. There seems to be absolutely no justification for this delay and the tokenistic announcement of results for 109 contested seats by 8 AM on 1 April is wholly inadequate," said Lewanika.
The counting was done immediately after the polls were shut generally around 7PM on 29 March at the polling stations and the results were posted outside the stations immediately.
Lewanika said the coalition also demand that the SADC leaders exert pressure on President Mugabe not to declare a state of emergency as well as apply pressure on the military and intelligence in Zimbabwe not to manipulate the results.
Arnold Tsunga, human rights lawyer and coalition chairperson said indications on the ground were clear that Mugabe preparing the nations for a state of emergency.
"The delay shows that they are not prepared to accept the people's verdict. There are heavily armed police offiers at every 200-m intervals. In other parts of the country there soldiers have been flying war jets at very low levels and all this is meant to intimidate the electorate," said Tsunga.
Meanwhile the ZEC chairperson Lovemore Sekeramai has revealed that electoral management body was currenctly receiveng the presidential election results from various constituency centres across the country.
He said the tabulation and verification of the presidential results would start as soon as they get all the results.
"We urge the nation to remain patient and we also want to commend the electorate for their
maturity," said Sekeramai.
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