HARARE, Zimbabwe — Robert Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since it threw off white rule in 1980, won another term as president after a hotly disputed election held on Wednesday, defeating his main challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, with 61 percent of the vote, the Zimbabwe Election Commission said Saturday.
[h=6]Aaron Ufumeli/European Pressphoto Agency[/h]Robert G. Mugabe, center, defeated his main challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, with 61 percent of the vote, the Zimbabwe Election Commission said Saturday.
The results were announced moments after Mr. Tsvangirai denounced the voting, saying it had been rigged.
“This fraudulent and stolen election has plunged Zimbabwe into a constitutional, political and economic crisis,” Mr. Tsvangirai said in a news conference at his house. He demanded that a new election be held so that Zimbabweans could “freely and fairly elect a government of their choice.”
But Rugare Gumbo, a spokesman for Mr. Mugabe’s party, ZANU-PF, urged Mr. Tsvangirai to accept the results.
“He must accept the will of the people of Zimbabwe,” Mr. Gumbo said.
Mr. Tsvangirai won 33 percent of the presidential vote, the election commission said.
Mr. Mugabe’s party also won more than two-thirds of the seats in Parliament, giving it a supermajority that can make changes to the country’s Constitution without the support of any other parties.
It was a stunning comeback for Mr. Mugabe, who won fewer votes than Mr. Tsvangirai in the first round of the disputed 2008 election. Neither man won an outright majority then, but Mr. Tsvangirai refused to participate in a runoff because of violent attacks that killed hundreds of his supporters.
The two formed an uneasy unity government after the regional trade bloc, the Southern African Development Community, intervened. That government, which left Mr. Mugabe in place as president and installed Mr. Tsvangirai as prime minister, was only supposed to last 18 months. Instead it stretched on for nearly five years, during which the country’s economy stabilized with the introduction of the United States dollar as the national currency. A new constitution was written and passed in a referendum.
But major overhauls of the armed forces and the police were left undone, and the electoral process ended up being rushed when Mr. Mugabe declared that the vote had to be held by July 31.
The voting was peaceful but plagued with problems. The political parties did not get a copy of the roll of voters until the day before the election, raising fears of fraud. Mr. Tsvangirai said that at one polling place where 17,000 people had voted, 10,000 were assisted by poll workers, a high rate of people needing help in a country with one of Africa’s highest literacy rates.
Mr. Tsvangirai now has few options. He can go to court, which he said he planned to do, but the higher courts in Zimbabwe are filled with ZANU-PF loyalists. Despite the problems, the African Union election observers declared that the vote had been peaceful and credible. Regional observers noted problems with the election, but did not dismiss it as too flawed to stand.
[h=6]Aaron Ufumeli/European Pressphoto Agency[/h]Robert G. Mugabe, center, defeated his main challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, with 61 percent of the vote, the Zimbabwe Election Commission said Saturday.
- [h=6]Mugabe’s Party Appears Headed for Parliamentary Victory in Zimbabwe (August 3, 2013)[/h]
The results were announced moments after Mr. Tsvangirai denounced the voting, saying it had been rigged.
“This fraudulent and stolen election has plunged Zimbabwe into a constitutional, political and economic crisis,” Mr. Tsvangirai said in a news conference at his house. He demanded that a new election be held so that Zimbabweans could “freely and fairly elect a government of their choice.”
But Rugare Gumbo, a spokesman for Mr. Mugabe’s party, ZANU-PF, urged Mr. Tsvangirai to accept the results.
“He must accept the will of the people of Zimbabwe,” Mr. Gumbo said.
Mr. Tsvangirai won 33 percent of the presidential vote, the election commission said.
Mr. Mugabe’s party also won more than two-thirds of the seats in Parliament, giving it a supermajority that can make changes to the country’s Constitution without the support of any other parties.
It was a stunning comeback for Mr. Mugabe, who won fewer votes than Mr. Tsvangirai in the first round of the disputed 2008 election. Neither man won an outright majority then, but Mr. Tsvangirai refused to participate in a runoff because of violent attacks that killed hundreds of his supporters.
The two formed an uneasy unity government after the regional trade bloc, the Southern African Development Community, intervened. That government, which left Mr. Mugabe in place as president and installed Mr. Tsvangirai as prime minister, was only supposed to last 18 months. Instead it stretched on for nearly five years, during which the country’s economy stabilized with the introduction of the United States dollar as the national currency. A new constitution was written and passed in a referendum.
But major overhauls of the armed forces and the police were left undone, and the electoral process ended up being rushed when Mr. Mugabe declared that the vote had to be held by July 31.
The voting was peaceful but plagued with problems. The political parties did not get a copy of the roll of voters until the day before the election, raising fears of fraud. Mr. Tsvangirai said that at one polling place where 17,000 people had voted, 10,000 were assisted by poll workers, a high rate of people needing help in a country with one of Africa’s highest literacy rates.
Mr. Tsvangirai now has few options. He can go to court, which he said he planned to do, but the higher courts in Zimbabwe are filled with ZANU-PF loyalists. Despite the problems, the African Union election observers declared that the vote had been peaceful and credible. Regional observers noted problems with the election, but did not dismiss it as too flawed to stand.