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August 1st, 2013 
Peter Nolan
14.30 (13.30) Peta Thornycroft, who is also in Zimbabwe for The
Telegraph, claims that MDC lawyers have been instructed to prepare an urgent
High Court application seeking to declare elections invalid.
13.54 (14.54) Andrew Harding of the BBC has interviewed the Catholic
Commission for Justice and Peace. Here’s what they had to say:
13.20 (14.20) The 15-member southern African regional bloc SADC will
deliver its verdict on Zimbabwe’s tightly-fought elections on Friday, an
official said.
“Tomorrow at 12 noon, SADC is expected to release its preliminary report
on the 2013 Zimbabwe harmonised elections,” said Leefa
Martin-Penehupifo, a spokeswoman for the bloc which has been a key mediator
in the Zimbabwe crisis.
13.00 (14.00) Zimbabwe’s Electoral Commission says counting has been
completed.
“The commission has received reports that the counting has been completed
at polling station level and collation has commenced at ward and
constituency level,” Rita Makarau, ZEC chairman said.
12.43 (13.43) One Twitter user has pointed out the number of pensioners
on the electoral – presumably with a touch of tongue in cheek.
The average life expectancy in Zimbabwe is 51 according to the World
Bank.
12.25 (13.25) Tiseke Kasambala, the Southern Africa director for Human
Rights Watch, has told us there were strong signs that the vote had not been
carried out correctly.
It’s still too early to come to a proper conclusion.. But when you look at the
prevailing human rights conditions in Zimbabwe, coupled with reports we are
receiving on the ground, then there is real cause for concern.
Ms Kasambala told The Daily Telegraph she had “very credible reports”
of irregularities in voting, such as people being turned away from voting or
finding their names were not included on the electoral register.
“There are a whole raft of issues that make it very difficult to believe
the people of Zimbabwe freely expressed their choices,” she said.
11.55 (12.55) More on the riot police near the MDC offices, an AFP
reporter claims about 20 officers in two anti-riot trucks were seen near the
office in downtown Harare.
11.50 (12.50) With the government threatening to arrest anyone who
posts preliminary results on Twitter, and an official outcome not due to be
announced until August 5, Zimbabwean officials abroad are as much in the
dark as anyone.
One Zimbabwean diplomat, working in Africa, told The Telegraph:
We are still waiting for the results, and just following as much as we can on
social media.
But I was so happy that yesterday was peaceful – I just hope it remains
like that.
11.40 (12.40) There are unconfirmed reports that riot police have been
deployed near the office of Tsvangirai’s MDC party. We will try to find out
more.
11.10 (12.10) Morgan Tsvangirai has now hit out at the election,
calling it a “huge farce”.
This has been a huge farce… In our view, that election is null and void.
11.00 (12.00) Aislinn Laing has an update from the streets of Harare.
As you would expect, there’s fevered speculation in Harare this morning and
reports (all unsubstantiated and most likely wrong) of riot police on the
streets and the loss of parliamentary seats for Morgan Tsvangirai and his
key lieutenant Tendai Biti.
There’s been a flurry of press conferences announced that have provided a
boon to local taxi drivers and seen journalists scurrying from one hotel
conference hall to another.
Apart from the army of aforementioned hacks, SADC, AU and local observers
and NGO staff careering around, and the increasingly wild pronouncements
from both sides of the political divide, it seems to be business as usual.
Zimbabweans are going about their day seemingly much the same as always –
and none I have spoken to seem the slightest surprised at what Zanu PF say
will be its landslide victory.
10.55 (11.55) ZESN has said it studied the electoral roll and claims
that all but 1,000 people, 99 per cent of eligible adults as determined by a
recent census, registered to vote in rural areas. In urban areas, it said,
760,456 of eligible voters in urban areas had failed to register to vote,
and only 68 per cent of eligible urban voters were registered.
ZESN said that at 82 per cent of urban polling stations, voters were turned
away because their names were not on the roll or they were registered in
different wards. In rural areas, it said, there was a “sharp contrast”,
with only 38 per cent of polling stations in the same situation.
10.28 (11.28) An indication at the potential voter fraud problems
facing Zimbabwe can
be found here.
Data from the Research and Advocacy Unit shows the percentage of people on the
electoral register by constituency in Britain, the US, New Zealand and
Zimbabwe.
While the first three countries obviously do not go above 100 per cent, in
some cases in Zimbabwe, the percentage is as high as 225 per cent.
10.13 (11.13) The mood music in Zimbabwe does appear to indicate a
Zanu-PF win. Lydia Polgreen of the New York Times writes:
10.00 (11.00) More from the Zimbabwe Election Support Network. Solomon
Zwana says “up to a million voters were disenfranchised”.
There’s been a systematic effort to disenfranchise urban voters up to one
million (people).
Before election day, the registration process was systematically biased
against urban voters. The voters’ roll clearly showed that urban voters had
systematically been denied the opportunity to register to vote.
09.40 (10.40) Aislinn Laing, our Southern Africa correspondent, is in
Harare, furiously Tweeting away via the handle @simmoa.
9.30 (10.30) A senior (unnamed) member of Zanu PF has told the AFP news
agency that his party has “romped” to victory “in a very
emphatic manner.” There are similar sentiments relayed to Reuters.
A police officer goes through a report of the day’s events at a polling
station in Mbare, Harare, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Electroral Commission officers check through a list of voters
at a polling station in Mabvuku, Harare
9.10 BST (10.10 Harare) Wednesday’s voting had been peaceful across the
southern African nation, but the early claims from the competing parties
heralded an acrimonious dispute over the outcome and raised fears of a
repeat of violence that marred a 2008 election.
Releasing unofficial results early in Zimbabwe
is illegal, and police had said they would arrest anybody who made premature
claims about the result. Election authorities were due to announce results
within five days from Wednesday.
But Didymus Mutasa, organising secretary for Zanu PF and secretary of state
for presidential affairs, claimed his party were doing better than in 1980,
when Robert Mugabe assumed power after ZImbabwe gained independence.
“I believe that will be seen when the results are announced by ZEC but
from what we can tell from on the ground currently we are definitely doing
much better than in 1980.”
Mr Mutasa said Zanu PF had made massive gains in provinces where it had
previously lost: Masvingo, Manicaland and Harare.
“So far I gather in Harare we have many more seats than we had in the
last elections and that’s very pleasing and very good for us.”
“There’s no doubt that we are going to do much better than 50 plus one
(the target for a presidential poll win) this time,” he said.
Mr Mutasa said he was not announcing anything. “I am not announcing the
elections,” he said. “I am talking to you as a friend. If we were
announcing we wouldn’t announce it to The Daily Telegraph.”
He said he did not understand how the opposition could say the elections were
rigged, or that they were affected by lost votes from thousands of people
who turned up to vote and found their names were not on the electoral list. “We
are talking in the same vein as Mr Obasanjo (the former Nigerian president
and chief African Union observer),” he said. “From what we are
observing currently, the elections are free and fair.
“When people talk of thousands, when the elections have been participated
in by millions of people, we are sure to know that thousands didn’t make the
difference.”
The leading domestic election monitoring agency, the Zimbabwe Election Support
Network, said the credibility of the vote was “seriously compromised”
by irregularities.
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