I really don’t know what to write about MDC’s decision not to contest Friday’s run-off – they really were between a rock and a hard place, but with so much already endured by their supporters I would have thought they’d see the process through, regardless of how the odds were stacked against them.  Tsvangirai is [...]

ZEC have confirmed 27th June as the date for the Presidential run-off – well past the date required by law, but I understand that Presidential powers have been used to amend the relevant laws accordingly (although how Presidential laws can be used when there technically is no President at the moment is another thing).  Tsvangirai [...]

Not that they really had any choice – it was either take part, of hand Bob a “legitimate” victory on a silver platter. The text of Morgan Tsvangirai’s speech announcing the MDC’s decision to take part is below the cut.
They’ve set pre-conditions, including free access to foreign observers & media and an SADC ‘peacekeeping’ [...]

So the fully-fiddled results are in – Tsvangirai 47.9%, Mugabe 43.2%, Makoni 8.3%, Towungana 0.6%. No-one really believes that they’re the accurate results, but they’re the ones we have to work with. The newly-reunited MDC now faces a tricky decision:
- Boycott the run-off in the name of saving the lives of their supporters [...]

Another call for a Government of National Unity, this time from Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the UN, Boniface Chidyausiku. There seems to be a positively refreshing outbreak of the urge to compromise – although I suppose the key sticking point would be who would be President in any such Government. MDC will expect Tsvangirai [...]

Here we go… ZEC’s count is complete and the parties have been called to compare that result against their own data, according to New Zimbabwe, while Morgan Tsvangirai has called a press conference for 4pm South African time (meaning it should be underway as I type this) to make “an historic announcement”.
ZEC’s announcement:
“We trust [...]

No such thing as a quiet Friday. BBC News reports that China has finally accepted defeat and recalled the An Yue Jiang (although This is Zimbabwe are still reporting it due in Angola today) – they’re labelling the decision “victory for civic society”:
Rights groups hailed the move as a major victory, a triumph of [...]

So far, all the recounts that I’m aware of being completed have resulted in no change – a few votes either way, but not enough to affect the outcome. That’s Zaka West, Gutu East, West & Central (all MDC) and Goromonzi West (Zanu-PF). Notable, though, was a speech given at the Gutu recounts [...]

There’s an interesting comment piece in today’s Herald and picked up on by the BBC that, while indulging in the usual bashing of the West, would suggest that Zanu-PF may be beginning to realise that they can’t completely steal this election. On the assumption that the Herald is the State mouthpiece and won’t publish [...]

The Institue for Democracy in South Africa has a report on the counting delays – they’ve done some poring over the relevant legislation, and they’re not buying ZEC’s excuses. You can get the full report from their website [PDF document] and they do go into some detail, but if you’re remotely interested in the [...]