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A vendor sells flags on a street in Harare on August 21, 2013, the eve of President Mugabe's inauguration ceremony/AFP

Africa

Mugabe eyes ‘grand’ inauguration after contested vote

There is however also an “unintended meaning,” he said. “It can be read as a farewell event for Mugabe. It reminds one of Jesus’s Last Supper.”

Thousands of Mugabe’s supporters were expected to troop in from across the country.

The electoral commission declared Mugabe winner with 61 percent of the vote, against Tsvangirai’s 34.

The elections ended a shaky power-sharing government formed by Mugabe and Tsvangirai four years ago to avoid a tip into conflict following a bloody presidential run-off election.

Local observers have judged the elections flawed and Western powers have raised serious doubts over the vote. But regional and continental groupings the Southern African Development Community and the African Union were less critical.

Tsvangirai condemned the election as “a farce” and “a massive fraud” and petitioned the court to overturn the result.

Among a series of complaints, he queried the suspiciously high number of voters who were turned away from polling stations in urban areas which are considered opposition strongholds.

He also charged that his party’s supporters in rural areas were intimidated by Mugabe party backers into feigning illiteracy and voting in the presence of police and election officers.

But in a surprise U-turn on Friday, Tsvangirai withdrew his petition saying he would not get a fair hearing.

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He said the courts had frustrated his efforts to access election materials he wanted to use as evidence.

But the constitutional court went ahead and handed down a ruling on the case anyway.

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