Vote-Rigging Alleged in Zimbabwe Election as Mugabe Claims Victory

Zimbabwe’s presidential election was a “huge farce,” Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said, alleging vote-rigging by rival President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party.
According to newzimbabwe.com:
“A senior Zanu PF source has claimed a resounding victory for Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
“The unnamed party official told Reuters news agency: ‘We’ve taken this election. We’ve buried the MDC ( Movement for Democratic Change). We never had any doubt that we were going to win.’
“The opposition, … Tsvangirai‘s Movement for Democratic Change, immediately claimed the elections had been ‘a monumental fraud’ and said it would be holding an emergency meeting later.”
As reported by The Miami Herald:
“The main challenger to Zimbabwe’s longtime president, Robert Mugabe, says the election there is “null and void” due to alleged violations in the voting process.
“Tsvangirai said Thursday that the poll a day earlier was heavily manipulated and did not meet regional or African election standards.
“A poll monitoring group that is not affiliated with the state says the poll was compromised by a campaign to stop voters from casting ballots.”
President Mugabe Still A Popular Choice
According to the New York Times:
“For Nyaradzai Majuru, the choice of how to cast her ballot was simple. Before she and her husband received a two-acre plot of land that had been seized from a white farmer several years ago, they were penniless subsistence farmers on a scrap of communal land. Now, they grow green beans, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and cabbages that they sell in the market.
“‘Our life is better now because of President Mugabe,’ said Ms. Majuru, 27, her youngest child tied to her back with a blanket. Mugabe, 89, who has led this country since it shook off white rule in 1980. ‘I support him all the way.’”