Victory claimed

The opposition MDC says it won the Zimbabwean elections. Needless to say, the Mugabe thugocracy is warning them not to get too uppity:

The MDC, which has repeatedly expressed fears of rigging, has started to quote unofficial returns, saying it has 67% of the vote so far and "has won".

The electoral commission said it was "concerned" at the "purported" results.

The information minister accused the MDC of "speculation and lies" and "causing unnecessary havoc".

[...]

A spokesman for Mr Makoni told the BBC News website that the MDC had "swept the board" in the parliamentary election, with several ministers losing their seats.

But the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said the country must wait for official results and appealed for patience, as four elections were held at the same time.

Chief elections officer Lovemore Sekeramayi said in a statement: "The commission notes with concern that some stakeholders have gone on to announce purported results of the poll when in fact the results are being verified and collated.

"Those results are not official results of the poll."

The MDC says the commission was appointed by Mr Mugabe and is not to be trusted.

The government went further in its condemnation of the MDC.

Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said: "We have warned against speculation, against self-declared winners.

"Biti and the MDC are famous for speculation and lies peddling in the country and causing unnecessary havoc here."

The state-run Sunday Mail quoted the ministry's secretary, George Charamba, as saying that if Mr Tsvangirai declared himself president "it is called a coup d'etat and we all know how coups are handled".

Damian P.

Posted by damian at March 30, 2008 09:55 AM