Second Round of Voting In Zimbabwe Appears Likely
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Harare — Almost four weeks after polling day, no official results from Zimbabwe’s presidential election have been released. Independent observers believe that the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, defeated President Mugabe, although not by a sufficient margin to avoid a second round. Under the Electoral Act, the run-off should have happened last Saturday.
Instead, the authorities are concentrating on recounting the vote in 23 parliamentary constituencies. Yesterday this exercise was completed in one seat held by Zanu-PF — and the ruling party’s victory was confirmed. The wave of violence, masterminded by Zanu-PF using a national network of command centers, is designed to guarantee victory for Mr. Mugabe if a second round is held.
Prime Minister Brown of Britain said that Britain favored imposing an arms embargo on Zimbabwe. If agreed, this would prevent a shipment of Chinese arms from reaching the country.
