SADC: Zimbabwe polls free, peaceful

The 15-member Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) on Friday declared Zimbabwe's elections free and peaceful. The SADC, which brokered Zimbabwe's coalition government after disputed 2008 polls, said it will explain the issue of fairness in a formal report to be compiled within 30 days after announcement of the elections results expected by Monday. "The elections were free, peaceful and indeed it was peaceful. In the main, the electoral process was characterized by an atmosphere of peace and political tolerance," said Bernard Membe, head of the SADC's election observer team. But Member said it was still early to say it is fair as the question of fairness is broad. "We didn't just want to come to a conclusion at this stage," he said. In its preliminary report, SADC noted that stakeholders had raised concerns that included the timing of the election date, limited time for voter registration, challenges relating to special vote, a polarized media, printing of more ballot papers against registered voters, hate speech and late delivery of the voters' roll. However, on remarks by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that the elections were "null and void", he said nowhere in the world would one find perfect elections. He urged the PM to accept the poll's outcome to promote political tolerance, peace and harmony in the country. Tsvangirai on Thursday dismissed the elections in which Zanu-PF is poised for a landslide victory as a farce, citing administrative and legal violations that he said affected the legitimacy of the poll outcome. Meanwhile, the African Union chief observer, Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that the elections were "free and credible." The former Nigerian president reiterated Friday at a press conference that despite some shortcomings, Zimbabwe's elections were free and fair. "There are incidencies that could have been avoided and there are incidencies that tended to breach the law but all in all up to close of polls we do not believe that these incidences will amount to the result not representing the will of the people," he said. Zanu-PF's national spokesman Rugare Gumbo told Xinhua in an interview Friday afternoon that President Mugabe is expected to be re-elected as he is estimated to have won two thirds of the votes on the July 31 elections. "It is about 60 percent to 70 percent. We cannot get less than that," he said. Gumbo said earlier on Friday that the party has so far won way over 50 percent of the 210 parliamentary seats, while there were figures yet to be published in other constituencies. The latest announcement by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), the only authority allowed to release official elections results, indicated that Mugabe's Zimbabwe Africa National Union -- Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) has now won 77 constituencies against his rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) party's 43, according to state media. ZEC chairperson Justice Rita Makarau told reporters that collation and verification of results was progressing well and the final results can be expected earliest by later Friday.