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Mugabe’s party loses Parliament

HARARE: President Robert Mugabe’s party lost control of Zimbabwe’s Parliament, the latest official results showed Wednesday, hours after the opposition claimed it also won the presidency.

Electoral Commission results appear to confirm the unravelling of a regime that has ruled this southern African country since independence from Britain three decades ago, in recent years overseeing the collapse of the economy and accused of stifling democracy.

The official results gave the opposition Movement for Democratic Change 105 seats to 93 for Mr. Mugabe’s ZANU-PF in the 210-seat House of Assembly. One seat went to an independent. That means that even if ZANU-PF wins all the remaining seats, it will not have the 206 seats needed for a majority. Seven of Mr. Mugabe’s Cabinet Ministers have lost their seats, according to official results.

The opposition had 41 of the 120 seats in the old, smaller assembly.

At a news conference earlier on Wednesday, Movement for Democratic Change general secretary Tendai Biti said party leader Morgan Tsvangirai won 50.3 per cent of the vote in the presidential race held alongside parliamentary balloting on Saturday, compared to 43.8 per cent for Mr. Mugabe. “We maintain that we have won the presidential election outright without the need for a runoff,” Mr. Biti said.

The opposition said it tallied individual polling station totals posted outside the stations across the country. The figures Mr. Biti gave at the news conference for votes cast and those garnered by the candidates did not back up his contention that his candidate won 50.3 per cent of the vote. Mr. Biti said 2,382,243 votes were cast, Mr. Tsvangirai received 1,171,079 — about 49 percent — and Mr. Mugabe 1,043,349 — just under 44 per cent. Contacted by the Associated Press soon after the news conference, Mr. Biti could not immediately explain the discrepancy.

ZANU-PF rejected the opposition’s presidential victory claim, saying it was being “irresponsible” and “mischievous.” Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband, speaking to British lawmakers in London on Wednesday, hailed Mr. Tsvangirai’s behavior as “statesmanlike,” but stopped short of backing opposition claims of victory. Britain has long been a sharp critic of Mr. Mugabe, and Mr. Miliband said he did not want to hand Mr. Mugabe’s party propaganda points by endorsing a candidate and was not going to pre-empt official results. — AP

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