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Last Updated: Apr 16, 2008 - 10:56:41 AM |
There is no end to the hypocrisy of the commentators about the Zimbabwe election. What has happened is that, because of
allegations of misrepresentation the ZEC has been asked to recount the ballots
in twenty-three constituencies where questions have been raised.
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One of the key questions
to be answered is why there were emails and SMS messages being sent from
within the US Embassy in Harare which were exercises in disinformation;
saying that MDC officials were being slaughtered; that the MDC won 60% of
the uncounted vote; that violence was spreading throughout the country,
inter alia. Two US
nationals, attached to an agency promoting democracy in Zimbabwe and
funded by USAID were deported from the country for being caught doing
this.
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Several MDC officials were
caught trying to suborn the ZEC officials in giving a low count to the
ZANU-PF in the election tally. Evidence of this was seized and the ZEC and
MDC officials were detained.
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The level of hypocrisy of
the world’s leaders to the Zimbabwe elations is very high. There was no
one more hypocritical than Levy Mwanawasa, the President of Zambia. This
is a man with a short memory. Levy won his first presidential contest on
December 27, 2001, with only 29 percent of the vote courtesy of Zambia's
first past the post system. His main rival in his inaugural presidential
contest, the Western-anointed Anderson Mazoka, who came a close second
with 27 percent of the vote disputed Levy's victory. The EU actually
jumped the gun and usurped the powers of the electoral commission of
Zambia to announce that Mazoka and his United Party for National
Development had won the elections. Premature congratulations flowed from
Western capitals provoking wild scenes of violence in Lusaka when Levy was
finally declared the winner. Then, during his re-election in September 28,
2006 he faced a strong challenge from Sata. Though Levy won with 43
percent of the vote Sata, who made a clean sweep of the cities and towns,
prematurely claimed victory, again causing scenes of violence throughout
Zambia when Levy began closing the gap when the rural constituencies began
reporting in.
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Mozambique's second
multi-party elections produced such a close contest that election
officials were forced to announce the winners a whole fortnight after
polling stations closed as close contests naturally demand intense
verification. Just like in Zimbabwe, the close outcome left the opposition
Renamo frustrated and threatening to lodge a series of complaints in the Supreme
Court. Renamo threatened to make Mozambique ungovernable if Chissano was
endorsed ahead of Dhlakama.
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In the end Chissano and Frelimo won 133 seats, while Renamo weighed in
with 117 in the 250-seat Assembly. Chissano had 52.29 percent of the vote
against Dhlakama's 47.71 percent. A bitter Dhlakama dismissed the results
as a "democratic farce" and threatened to create "difficult
conditions" for Mozambique, which was taken to be a euphemism for a
return to war. But the then SADC chair did not call a summit as it was
appreciated that election systems by nature involve complex counting. And
in Mozambique the system left voters, citizens, diplomats, observers and
the media increasingly tense as rumours flew about Maputo perpetrating
vote manipulation amid a torrent of threats from Renamo. Finally on
December 22, the National Electoral Commission (CNE) announced the results
saying it had taken its time recording the initial vote counts as it could
not be rushed or tied down by regulations. Renamo meanwhile had capitalised
on the delays by holding daily press conferences where it insisted it was
winning in six of the country's 11 provinces. Renamo's figures, of course,
were dutifully echoed by some local and Western media and non-governmental
organisations to a point where Renamo declared itself the winner before
the CNE had made even preliminary announcements. The resultant confusion
created considerable tension which, combined with Renamo's allegations of
fraud and other irregularities, put the spectre of military confrontation
over a country that was just coming out of a ruinous war of
destabilisation. Security forces were put on high alert as Renamo demanded
the elections be declared null and void and a rerun held under the
supervision of the "international" community (always ‘opposition
speak’ for the West)
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The ‘international
community’ is no less hypocritical. This year (2008) Britain just voided
another election (in Slough) because of postal vote fraud. In an earlier
electoral fraud case in Birmingham (2005), the judge Richard Mawrey, QC,
lost his temper with British ministers’ arrogance as he ruled that Labour
had organised a conspiracy across Birmingham to win the local elections by
rigging postal votes. His trial award found “fraud that would disgrace a banana
republic”, while ministers were in “a state not simply of complacency but
of denial”.
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However it takes a great
deal of memory loss to complain about the two-week delay in announcing the
Zimbabwe election results because of reported flaws in the counting system
in the tally of election results. There is probably no adult alive on the
face of the earth who doesn’t
remember the mother of all such delays; the period from 7 November
2000 to 12 December 2000 which saw the contested election, finally only confirmed
by the Supreme Court, of George Bush as President of the US.
Source:Ocnus.net 2008
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