Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Zimbabwe’s state-run newspaper

The newspaper published no actual election results and attributed its conclusion to analysts. But the report is likely to be perceived as a decision by President Robert Mugabe to continue his fight to hold on to the presidency rather than yield it to the challenger Morgan Tsvangirai.

Earlier this week, with unofficial results showing Mr. Mugabe behind, close advisers to the president were split about whether he should concede or force a second vote, according to a Western diplomat with knowledge of the talks.

By law, if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the ballots, a second round of voting must take place within 21 days between the two top candidates.

The country’s election commission has now gone nearly four days without releasing any results from Saturday’s presidential election, and the only announcements have been about seats for Parliament. The Herald said that “the two parties were likely to win between 96 and 99 House of Assembly seats each.” There are 210 Parliament seats. Read more from: http://www.nytimes.com/

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