President Robert Mugabe has been declared winner of the Zimbabwe presidential election in results announced by the Zimbabwe electoral Commission chairperson, Rita Makarau.
According to Reuters.com:
“Mugabe, 89, who has ruled the former British colony in southern Africa since its independence in 1980, was formally proclaimed re-elected for a five-year term barely an hour after Tsvangirai announced his planned legal challenge.
“‘We are going to go to court, we are going to go to the AU (African Union), we are going to go to the SADC (Southern African Development Community),’ Tsvangirai angrily told a news conference in Harare.
“While African observers from the AU and SADC have already broadly approved Wednesday’s peaceful vote, independent domestic monitors have described it as vitiated by registration problems that may have disenfranchised up to a million people.”
US and UK concern over Zimbabwe election results
According to the BBC:
“The US and UK have expressed concerns after Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe won a seventh term in office amid claims of electoral fraud.
“US Secretary of State John Kerry said the results did not ‘represent a credible expression of the people. In light of substantial electoral irregularities reported by domestic and regional observers, the United States does not believe that the results represent a credible expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people,’ Mr Kerry said.
“Western groups were not invited to send observer missions to monitor Wednesday’s election.
“The US has described the vote as ‘deeply flawed.’
“Former colonial power the UK also expressed ‘grave concerns’ over reports of large numbers of voters being turned away from polling stations.
“British Foreign Minister William Hague urged a thorough investigation of all allegations of violations.
“Meanwhile the European Union which maintains sanctions on Mr Mugabe and his senior aides, said it was worried about ‘alleged irregularities and reports of incomplete participation’ in the election.
“Monitoring groups disagreed over the conduct of the election.”
