Mugabe wins a two-thirds majority at Zimbabwe elections as claims of systematic vote rigging are dismissed

Robert Mugabe won a two-thirds majority in this week’s parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe - which two leading African observer groups declared ‘free and peaceful’.

The poll was conducted amid huge controversy over claims of widespread fraud and vote-rigging.

It led to opposition leader Morgan Tsangirai calling the election a ‘huge farce’ and ‘null and void’.

But the African Union dismissed complaints of fraud, while another observer urged all parties to ‘accept hard facts’.

The 89-year-old president, who is running for his seventh term, has been Zimbabwe’s ruler since independence from Britain in 1980.

Olusegan Obasanjo, head of the African Mission, admitted there were ‘incidents which could have been avoided’ but said these would not have altered the overall outcome of the poll.

He said his monitors noted some apparent irregularities but that they did not constitute evidence of systematic tampering.

Mugabe's supporters have rejected allegations of rigging and claimed victory. Wednesday's contentious vote has created fresh uncertainty in a country long afflicted by division and economic turmoil.

‘Yes, the election is free,’ Obasanjo said. He described the vote as credible unless any evidence to the contrary emerges, and asked election authorities to investigate reports that tens of thousands of eligible voters were turned away.

Another poll monitoring group in Zimbabwe said as many as 1 million of the more than 6 million eligible voters were prevented from casting ballots.

Vote: Robert Mugabe casting a a ballot during the vote, watched by his wife and daughter

Scrum: Mugabe is surrounded by the press after casting his vote - he insisted he would leave office if defeated

‘If 25 per cent were not allowed, then, yes, the election is fatally flawed,’ said Obasanjo, a former Nigerian president.

The head of the observer mission for the Southern African Development Community, a regional body, described the election Wednesday as ‘very free’ and ‘very peaceful’.

But, he noted that there were some violations and a full analysis was still under way. It was too early to describe the vote as ‘fair’, he said

Tanzania's foreign minister  Bernard Membe  said: ‘The question of fairness is broad and you cannot answer it within one day.

‘And so be sure that within 30 days, through our main report, the question of fairness may come.’
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe's main opponent in the presidential vote, has declared the election ‘null and void.’

Mugabe's ZANU-PF party said Friday that poll returns showed that 3.9 million voters cast their ballots on Wednesday.

Queue: Voters in the suburbs of Harare line up to have their say in the crunch election

Opponent: Prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai, pictured with his wife Elizabeth, was vying to be president

That 61 percent turnout was higher than in an uncontested referendum on a new constitution in March where no disputed voters' lists were used and only national citizens' identity documents were needed.

Full results on the presidential and parliament votes have been promised by Monday.

Mugabe's Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said Friday his party was ‘headed for an unprecedented landslide.’

‘If anyone is dissatisfied, the courts are there. I invite Tsvangirai to go to court if he has any grounds to justify what he has been saying,’ Chinamasa told reporters.

Under the law, seven days were set aside for legal challenges, with another two days for rulings to be made and then the swearing in of a new government takes place.

Obasanjo said voting itself was peaceful but the observers noted ‘incidences that could have been avoided and even tended to have breached the law.’

Support: Hundreds of MDC members at a rally in Harare ahead of the election

Dedication: Many voters had wrapped up warm in woollen clothes to protect themselves against cold weather

Long-serving: Mugabe, now 89, has been in power for 33 years and is the country's only ever black leader

 Independent election monitors have alleged many people were unable to vote because of disorganized voters' lists and a chaotic program to register electors on those lists in the run-up to polling day.

Obasanjo said some apparent irregularities were made in error largely after funding for the vote was late in coming from the nation's depleted state coffers.

‘I have never seen an election that is perfect,’ he said. ‘The process continues and we have to limit our comments.’

Aisha Abdullahi, the African Union's commissioner for political affairs, said observers reported that Zimbabwe had made improvements in the conduct of elections since the last violent and disputed elections in 2008 that led regional leaders to forge a shaky coalition between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader.

Celebration: MDC voters had been optimistic that Tsvangirai would finally be able to take power

Ballot paper: An electoral official holds up the ballot showing all five presidential candidates

Patient: Zimbabweans have overcome obstacles to travel to the polling stations and cast their votes

Democracy: Officials explain to an elderly voter how to cast a vote at a suburban polling station

Moment of truth: Elderly voters place their ballot in the election

But she said they expressed ‘grave concerns’ over voters' lists this time that were not made available in time for inspection and verification by voters, contesting parties and candidates. Public scrutiny of the voters' roll was of vital ‘strategic importance’ to verify the accuracy of the contents and establish correct numbers of eligible electors, she said.

She said the electoral commission printed 8.7 million ballot papers for 6.4 million voters, or 35 per cent above the number of registered voters against the international standard of 5 to 10 per cent.
Observers said a significant number of ballot booklets had missing ballot papers and papers without serial numbers.

They also expressed ‘great concern’ over the high numbers of voters turned away.

The late publicity on the location of voting stations just 48 hours before stations opened contributed also to voters who failed to cast ballots because they were not at correct polling sites.

Abdullahi said observers reported a high number of disabled, elderly or other ‘assisted voters’ being helped to cast their ballots by polling officers who may have influenced them against their free will. In some outlying stations, one-quarter of voters were helped this way.

She said some AU observers are to remain in Zimbabwe until Aug. 14.