MDC’s sweeping gains in rural areas

By Tichaona Sibanda
31 March 2008

According to the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai, they are headed for a parliamentary majority after figures released by the party indicate they have made sweeping gains in rural areas, once a Zanu-PF fortress.

Despite the agonisingly slow pace at which the Zimbabwe Election Commission is announcing results, the MDC stunned the ruling party in Manicaland by grabbing 21 out of the 26 parliamentary seats. Before Saturday’s poll, the opposition held only two seats. This represents a gain of 19 seats.

In Masvingo the MDC’s secretary for International Affairs, Professor Elphas Mukonoweshuro, confirmed that in Gutu district his party won four out of the five parliamentary seats. ‘Gutu district is in the bag,’ an ecstatic Mukonoweshuro said.

Results sent in to the party’s command centre in Harare by its candidates from across the country indicate that they are only nine seats short of a majority in parliament.

The party’s secretary-general Tendai Biti told a news conference in Harare that Tsvangirai has taken 60 percent of votes so far in the presidential election, double the total for incumbent Mugabe.

Quoting unofficial tallies that the party have from their candidates Biti said from the 128 constituencies whose results they have calculated so far, they have won 96 out of the 128 (parliamentary) seats.

The independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network have pointed out that the MDC figures should be accurate as most results countrywide were already in the public domain, given that they were posted outside polling stations for all to see.

Sam Sipepa Nkomo, the MDC parliamentary candidate for Lobengula in Bulawayo, said it was in the public domain that their party won eleven of the twelve seats in the city. Elections for the other seat were suspended following the death of the sitting MP and candidate for the Mutambara MDC Milton Gwetu last month.

‘It’s either there is something seriously wrong with their adding machine because all the results were posted outside the polling stations since Sunday,’ Nkomo said of the delay in announcing all the results.

He said their own results showed that by and large it was a reflection of the sentiment of the people of Zimbabwe, adding that ‘it has turned out to be a referendum against the policies of Mugabe, as Tsvangirai said a month ago.’