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Zimbabwe opposition claims poll victory, trend 'irreversible'
Brian Latham, Bloomberg
March 30, 2008

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHGiFy2kTyc4&refer=home

Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change said it has won national presidential and parliamentary elections, based on early results posted at polling stations.

The party, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, garnered at least 66 percent of the votes cast in the capital, Harare, Secretary General Tendai Biti said in an interview today from the city. The MDC leads in Mashonaland Central province and won a majority in the southern province of Masvingo, traditionally a stronghold for President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party, he said.

"This is just an example of what we're getting from every province,'' Biti said. "In our view the trend is irreversible and, barring a miracle, Mugabe can't win. We've won this election.''

Poll officials began counting ballots last night in an election in which Mugabe, 84, is seeking to extend his 28-year rule of the southern African nation. Tsvangirai, 56, and Simba Makoni, a 58-year-old former finance minister, were his main challengers in the contest. No official results have been announced yet and the final tally may only be known later this week.

The MDC, which has been battling Zanu-PF since 2000, also won a seat in Mugabe's home province of Mashonaland West, Biti said. In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-biggest city, the MDC has a "narrow lead'' over Makoni with Zanu-PF in third place, he said.

Yesterday's election was held amid accusations by human rights groups including Amnesty International that the government harassed the opposition and vowed to cut off food supplies to voters who didn't back the ruling party.

'Victory Assured'

Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe gained its independence in 1980, won elections in 2000, 2002 and 2005 that were marred by violence and electoral irregularities, according to most observers of the poll. Western monitors and media were barred from witnessing this year's ballot.

"Victory is assured in spite of the Mugabe regime's attempt to subvert the election and the will of the people,'' Tsvangirai said in a telephone interview from Harare today.

Zimbabwe's export-based economy, once southern Africa's second-biggest, started to collapse after Mugabe seized white-owned commercial farms in 2000 to give to blacks deprived of land during colonial rule. That's caused shortages of food and fuel and pushed the inflation rate to 100,580 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham via the Johannesburg bureau on pmrichardson@bloomberg.net

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