23 constituencies to be recounted; so where are the results for the other 184?
| Constituency | Current | 1st | 2nd | Diff. | Province |
| Bikita West | MDC MT | 7048 | 7029 | 19 | Masvingo |
| Mutare West | MDC MT | 7597 | 7577 | 20 | Manicaland |
| Bulilima East | MDC | 3180 | 3104 | 76 | Mat South |
| Gokwe-Kabuyuni | MDC MT | 7234 | 7156 | 78 | Midlands |
| Masvingo Central | MDC MT | 4905 | 4793 | 112 | Masvingo |
| Goromonzi West | Zanu PF | 6193 | 5931 | 262 | Mash East |
| Zhombe | MDC MT | 5445 | 5122 | 323 | Midlands |
| Masvingo West | MDC MT | 4513 | 4122 | 391 | Masvingo |
| Silobela | MDC MT | 4624 | 4137 | 487 | Midlands |
| Gutu North | MDC MT | 5045 | 4343 | 702 | Masvingo |
| Zaka West | MDC MT | 4734 | 4030 | 704 | Masvingo |
| Buhera South | MDC MT | 8833 | 7613 | 1220 | Manicaland |
| Chimanimani West | MDC MT | 8558 | 7107 | 1451 | Manicaland |
| Gutu Central | MDC MT | 6398 | 4767 | 1631 | Masvingo |
| Bikita South | MDC MT | 6916 | 5284 | 1632 | Masvingo |
| Lupane East | MDC | 5424 | 3368 | 2056 | Mat North |
| Gutu South | MDC MT | 5757 | 3559 | 2198 | Masvingo |
| Mberengwa West | Zanu PF | 5508 | 2912 | 2596 | Midlands |
| Zvimba North | Zanu PF | 6784 | 1701 | 5083 | Mash West |
| Mberengwa East | Zanu PF | 7292 | 1251 | 6041 | Midlands |
| Mberengwa South | Zanu PF | 8291 | 1309 | 6982 | Midlands |
| Mberengwa North | Zanu PF | 9722 | 2352 | 7370 | Midlands |
| Chiredzi North | Zanu PF | 18413 | 2679 | 15734 | Masvingo |
Predicatably, front page news on Zanu PF’s mouthpiece is about Thabo Mbeki saying there is “no crisis” in Zimbabwe:
South African President Thabo Mbeki has said there is no crisis in Zimbabwe as “everybody” is waiting for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to announce the results of the presidential elections.
He said the Zimbabwean law clearly stipulates that in the event that no candidate garners a clear majority in the presidential race, an election re-run will be held. This pours water on the claims of victory by the MDC leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, who is saying there is no need for a run-off.
So, according to our press, Thabo Mbeki’s words have effectively vindicated opposition leader Robert Mugabe’s tenuous position.
There is no mention in the article that a party demanding a recount before the results are announced is not in line with the Electoral Act, as is the case in the Presidential vote. (Please re-read the Zimbabwe Laywers for Human Rights release).
Justice Chiweshe of ZEC, appears to be interpreting details of the Electoral Act a bit differently to ZLHR. According to Mugabe’s mouthpiece, the Sunday Mail:
Justice Chiweshe said the queries were raised within 48 hours of the elections as stipulated by the Electoral Act. Zanu-PF disputed polling in 22 constituencies while MDC-Tsvangirai is contesting Goromonzi West.
What the Electoral Act says, exactly, in relation to the 48 hours, is this:
67A: Recounting of votes
(1) Within forty-eight hours after a constituency elections officer has declared a candidate to be duly elected in terms of section 66(1), any political party or candidate that contested the election in the ward or constituency concerned may request the Commission to conduct a recount of votes in one or more of the polling stations in the constituency.
Keeping with the Sunday Mail, and bearing in mind that the majority of Zimbabweans have access to no news except the drivel that pours from the State controlled media, pay attention to how the wheels of propaganda spin.
Read Mbeki’s actual words when the Sunday Mail quotes Thabo Mbeki, and then correlate this with their interpretation above:
When he was asked whether he believed that there was a crisis in Zimbabwe, the South African leader said: “No, there has been an electoral process taking place. We are waiting. Everybody is waiting for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to announce the results that are outstanding.
“Of course there is the matter of the court case to rule, I understand on Monday, and if nobody wins with a clear majority in terms of the presidential election, the law provides that there should be a run-off and that’s what is happening and I wouldn’t describe that as a crisis. It’s a normal electoral process according to the law of Zimbabwe.”
But releasing results isn’t what ZEC and Zanu PF are doing: they’re going straight to a recount prior to release:
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has ordered the recounting of ballots cast in 23 House of Assembly constituencies in last month’s harmonised elections following complaints which candidates from Zanu-PF and the MDC raised over the polling process.
In an interview yesterday, ZEC chairman Justice George Chiweshe revealed that his commission had “reasonable grounds” to believe that the votes in the constituencies had been miscounted and would affect the election results.
He said all votes that were cast in the presidential, House of Assembly, Senate and council elections will be recounted on Saturday this week.
The 23 constituencies in question - with the results we have so far (as per ZEC announcements) - are in the table above, sorted by the difference between first postion count and second position count. Goromonzi West is the only seat MDC Mt are questioning. And don’t forget that there are three seats which will be determioned by by-elections.
The opposition’s response to the recount is fairly obvious and natural (via the BBC):
The MDC has made it clear that it will not accept results based on recounts.
“For us, that is accepting rigged results,” MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told Reuters news agency.
“They had custody of the ballot boxes for two weeks and they must have stuffed them with their votes.”
And so they are contesting the recount:
Zimbabwe’s opposition says it will mount a legal challenge to the election commission’s order for a ballot recount in last month’s contested polls.
I’d almost forgotten, but we’re still waiting for Zimbabwe’s High Court ruling on the release of the results. Remember: this is supposed to happen tomorrow.
April 13th, 2008 14:46
Interesting that nothing is said about the entries at the bottom of the table, where Zanu-PF’s first number is higher then the second by thousands rather than the hundreds in the others. Does this mean that the seats with the grossly inflated Zanu-PF wins are being contested by Zanu-PF? Why is no-one commenting on this in the press, I would love to know what the implication of that is.
Meanwhile as you say it would be nice if we could all see the First results for the rest of the country, they obviously exist otherwise how would Zanu-PF know that there are only 23 seats to be contested?
April 13th, 2008 15:12
Mike, I’m an armchair number-cruncher so steering clear of detailed analysis; but you’re right, it is very odd to me too.
I can only assume that Zanu PF think they should have got more votes - I doubt they’re contesting for less.
I am hoping someone else will do some thinking and crunching… all the info we have is here on our website.
April 13th, 2008 16:06
Lots of us watching and willing you on from the rest of the world. Lots of love and all power to you guys.
April 13th, 2008 17:25
(Speculation only) I’m afraid that Bob et al are intending to downgrade ZPF votes in already successfully rigged constituencies by equal or greater than the amount needed to steal the close ones from MDC. He will then distract criticism by alleging that the electoral officers were at fault in the process and have the loss of significant numbers of meaningless ZPF votes to mutely testify to his only motivation which is to save the country from itself and/or insidious foreign provocateurs. He is slowing things down by piecemeal actions and building small amounts of support diffusing attention with each step he takes to try to outlast the western news cycle and his obfuscation strategy is plausible doubt as to the claims of the opposition.
Strangely enough this is very common a la the last two US presidential elections (minus the demonic thuggery). The theory being that MSN outlets and their audiences don’t grasp or maintain attention for nuance and it has been proven time and again that specious arguments are the tool of choice for erecting and supporting a facade of legitimacy.
I hope you make contact with other sites like the one I post below (I am not associated with any by the way and am just an ordinary Johnny Canuck) with the hope that they would assist you in maintaining the international awareness and political pressure.
In a perfect scenario Mbeki in particular will have to respond to serious and rapid trade and diplomatic impacts–world opinion will rally to condemn Bob through seeing and making the connection that the Zimbabwe election is of huge continental and global importance and that it has the potential to provide a template for healthy and meaningful political expression. At a minimum RM must be denied any legitimate foreign appearances and countries he has traveled to in the past for his playboy lifestyle must be made to close their gates (to him but especially to Grace and the gang so maybe keep getting the word out who these people are and with luck they will have to cross pickets at every Gucci store on earth) declaring all associated with this regime persona non grata. (Is it too much to ask for frozen foreign bank accounts and a forensic auditor to trace the assets he has siphoned off to foreign money laundries…in the process shining a light on his fellow travelers?)
My worst fear is that if he senses the glare of international opinion diminished, his suppression of dissent could become even more inhuman.
In the process of trying to understand your situation my respect and admiration for the way in which you have courageously persevered has grown along with my sincere hope that you and your country know peace and prosperity soon.
http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com/
April 13th, 2008 21:42
All I want to say is this suffering of the people of Zim is just too terrible, and that our President Mr Mbeki actually is turning a blind eye to it all,saying this is a process and not a crisis,has made me have no respect for him now, as intelligent as he may be, his actions actually show just the opposite. Where is Mr Mandela as well, even he is turning a blind eye to all of this.It is just a sign of weakness and when apartheid had to end and the Smith regime for that matter,the whole world had something to say and even participated, but now there seems to be no one that can come to sort this ongoing mess out.What distresses me mostly,is the fact that innocent people are suffering daily, I feel like crying….it is so sad
April 15th, 2008 20:02
we go by the majority vote,if the majority are insane,the sane must go to hospital.
April 15th, 2008 21:58
Mike and Hope, on the constituencies with huge numbers for Zanu-pf candidate, maybe those are where people voted for Zanu parliamentary candidate but Morgan for President. So Mugabe thinks he can go back and switch Morgan’s votes over to him and nobody will query it? Oh yes we will!