Confusion reigns

Confusion surrounds Zimbabwe’s just ended poll which has been declared free and fair by both the African Union and the Southern African Development Community as parties battle to claim early victory and fraud.

President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front has claimed victory saying it has buried the Movement for Democratic Change but without giving any figures.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC has claimed monumental fraud. “This has been a huge farce. In our view, that election is null and void,” Tsvangirai said.

The Zimbabwe Election Supervisory Network claims that voters in urban areas, viewed as strongholds for the MDC, were denied an opportunity to vote while those in rural areas, viewed as a stronghold for ZANU-PF, were given a chance to vote.

But more interesting was a report by the Herald that the MDC was receiving help from several United States associated organisations for its parallel vote count.

A similar exercise flopped in 2008.

But what has astounded everyone is how peacefully the elections went.

The aim is now to try to spark outrage when the results are out.

While the West has insisted that the elections must reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe, it appears that this is based on the assumption that they know what the people of Zimbabwe want and might challenge the result.

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