MDC claims Morgan Tsvangirai is new Zimbabwean president
Wednesday, 02 Apr 2008 17:45
Movement for Democratic Change says Morgan Tsvangirai has enough votes to replace Robert Mugabe as Zimbabwean president
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe has hailed its leader Morgan Tsvangirai as the country's new president.
At a press conference in Harare the MDC said Mr Tsvangirai had won 50.3 per cent of the vote, thus avoiding the need for a run-off.
On Wednesday the state-run daily the Herald claimed neither the MDC leader or president Robert Mugabe had won the required 50 per cent share of the vote to declare an outright victory.
Last night Mr Tsvangirai said the MDC would wait for the Zimbabwe electoral commission (ZEC) to announce official results before claiming victory, but the party's general secretary did just that today.
The opposition's claims add to mounting pressure for the ZEC to declare the full results of Saturday's elections.
On Tuesday the MDC denied reports the party had entered into a deal for Mr Mugabe, 82, to step down.
The ZEC has not announced any results from the presidential ballots but in parliamentary results Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party was awarded 97 out of 207 seats, compared to 105 for the opposition and one independent seat.
Despite losing its parliamentary majority, Zanu-PF said the MDC's claims over the presidency were "wishful thinking".
"After the 29th of March, Zimbabwe will never be the same again. In those minutes inside the polling booths each one rewrote the history of Zimbabwe," Mr Tsvangirai said yesterday.
"The vote we passed on Saturday was a vote for change, for a new beginning."
Observers have moved to dispel fears Zimbabwe could echo Kenya in the violent scenes witnessed following last December's disputed presidential elections, but the streets of the capital were calm on Wednesday despite an increased police presence.
Mr Mugabe, who has not appeared in public since Saturday's elections, is also facing intense outside pressure to step down.
Rotating European Union president Slovenia has said Mr Mugabe would be responsible for a "coup d'etat" if he remained.
"I hope he is on his way out, most Europeans think this way," Slovenian foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel told the European parliament.
Gordon Brown has already reminded Mr Mugabe the "eyes of the world" are on the elections and their outcomes, while Washington says delays to the release of results are "troubling".