[Oh how funny. It was clear from all the machinations up front that this was heavily rigged. Apparently voter turnout was very low. So much for “democracy” Mugabe-style. Jan]

ZANU-PF was poised for a landslide victory last night after snapping up 21 of the 31 contested Senate seats, while unconfirmed reports said the ruling party had also won three of the four remaining constituencies whose results are still to be announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

The opposition MDC grabbed the other six seats, and was tipped to win one more in Matabeleland North.

The ruling party also won the Gutu North parliamentary by-election where Cde Lovemore Matuke garnered 20 712 votes to MDC perennial campaigner Mr Crispa Musoni’s 4 786 votes.

The 21 Senate seats bring to 40 the number of seats won by Zanu-PF following the ruling party’s victory in 19 uncontested constituencies at the close of nominations on October 25.

Eighteen female candidates emerged victorious from results announced in 46 constituencies, translating into 39 percent.

This exceeds by 9 percentage points the threshold of representation stipulated by the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Declaration on Gender that says 30 percent of posts in any institution should be occupied by women.

The ruling party finally broke into the MDC strongholds, sweeping all five seats in Harare, five in Matabeleland South and was poised to win three more in Matabeleland North.

However, the MDC maintained its dominance in Bulawayo, winning all five seats.

Zanu-PF spokesman on elections Cde Webster Shamu said the high number of female candidates showed that the ruling party enunciates principles that it carries out.

He congratulated Zimbabweans for endorsing the ruling party, saying this demonstrated that they would not compromise in their defence of sovereignty and democracy: “We would like to congratulate the people of Zimbabwe for once again showing their commitment to Zanu-PF and what the party and leadership stand for.

“The elections and the results have once again demonstrated that the people of Zimbabwe cannot be bought or sold; they have matured in their pursuit of democracy.”

Efforts to get comments from the pro-Senate MDC faction were fruitless last night.

ZEC director of voter education and public relations Mr Utoile Silaigwana hailed the violence-free campaign period and the smooth electoral process.

“The election from the ZEC point of view went very well. There were a lot of preparations; we had the National Logistics Committee for ZEC that we set up to mobilise resources. We had a two-stage voter education programme. The first stage involved encouraging people to inspect the voters’ roll and to register; and the second took place after the nomination process, encouraging people to go and vote,” he said. Mr Silaigwana could not be drawn to comment on the voter turnout, saying the ZEC was still waiting for returns from the outstanding constituencies.

ZEC chief elections officer Mr Lovemore Sekeramayi said:

“Results from Gokwe Constituency (Midlands), Binga and Tsholotsho-Hwange, and Hwange East (all in Matabeleland North) will be announced tomorrow (today).”

He said the results were still outstanding because of the inaccessibility of the areas caused by heavy rains.

Source: AllAfrica.Com
URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/200511281111.htm…/p>