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Zimbabwe starts counting votes

By Nelson Banya Reuters - Saturday, June 28 01:42 pm

HARARE (Reuters) - Votes were being counted on Saturday in Zimbabwe's single candidate presidential election and state media predicted a landslide victory for President Robert Mugabe despite reports of low turnout in many areas.

The decision to go ahead with the poll after the withdrawal of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai because of violence against his supporters was condemned around the world and the poll was widely dismissed as illegitimate.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously expressed deep regret and said a free and fair vote had been impossible.

First results from Friday's election were expected to emerge on Saturday, electoral officials said.

Tsvangirai won the first round on March 29 but pulled out of the run-off and took refuge in the Dutch embassy because of state-backed violence he said had killed almost 90 of his followers. He said millions of people stayed away from polling stations despite systematic intimidation.

Many Western leaders urged the African Union to take action at a summit in Egypt on Monday, saying Mugabe's 28 years in power had to end because the political turmoil and economic meltdown in Zimbabwe threatened regional security.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said it would lobby the summit leaders.

"The summit has to take a firm position on the transition we seek. It's now a matter of peace and security. We hope the matter gets the urgent attention it deserves. We should not wait for rivers of blood and the complete breakdown of order," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

But senior officials attending a preparatory summit meeting shied away from Western proposals for boosted international sanctions against Mugabe, saying they were unlikely to work and a power-sharing deal should be encouraged.

AU mediation helped form a power-sharing government in Kenya earlier this year, ending a crisis in which 1,500 died.

"I think we need to engage Zimbabwe. The route of sanctions may not be the helpful one," Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula told reporters in Sharm el Sheikh.

Tsvangirai said earlier this week that he would not negotiate with Mugabe if he went ahead with the election.

The state-run Herald newspaper said there was a record turnout in the election, which was peaceful.

"Initial reports from polling stations countrywide indicate that this would be the biggest turnout Zimbabwe has ever had, which is a slap in the face for detractors who claimed this was a 'Mugabe election'," said the paper. It gave no turnout figure.

CRACKDOWN

Chamisa said Mugabe's ZANU-PF planned to pursue a crackdown to decimate the MDC. "They stole this election, now they are going to spill more blood."

He added that security forces planned to launch "Operation Red Finger" to track down people who abstained. Voters had their little finger dyed with ink.

African and local election monitors said there had been a low turnout on Friday. Witnesses and poll observers said people had been forced to vote in some areas and their ballots were checked by ZANU-PF officials.

Chamisa criticised South African President Thabo Mbeki, whose quiet diplomacy in Zimbabwe as the designated regional mediator has failed to end the crisis. He is widely accused of being too soft on Mugabe.

"President Mbeki has become part of the problem. ... I don't know why he is trying to resurrect a regime that was rejected by the people," Chamisa said. He said no African country should recognise the election.

Gordon Brown, prime minister of former colonial power Britain, said Zimbabwe had reached a new low with the election. "We will work with international partners to find a way to close this sickening chapter that has cost so many lives," he said.

Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, has presided over Zimbabwe's slide into economic chaos with inflation estimated to have hit at least 2 million percent. He blames Western sanctions.

(Additional reporting by Cris Chinaka and MacDonald Dzirutwe in Harare, Daniel Wallis and Cynthia Johnston in Sharm el Sheikh. Writing by Marius Bosch; Editing by Barry Moody)