The post-election circumstances in Zimbabwe should not be entirely surprising. It was likely that President Robert Mugabe would seek to resist moving out of office in the event of defeat. But his effort to not even release the results of the presidential electoral vote certainly is surprising, and marks yet another indication of the President’s inclination over the years to be constantly attempting to outmanoeuvre his opponents at every turn. And the decision to release a result of the parliamentary elections shows the President’s ego well involved as he obviously seeks to make a distinction between his party’s defeat and his personal defeat.
The decision of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), at least initially, to refuse to concede that there should be another election for the Presidency seems wise. It indicates an unwillingness to accept that they should agree to, in effect, annul the results of an election which they have not even seen. And it would seem an appropriate response to the President’s attempt at political gamesmanship.
