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Zimbabwe presidential hopeful Morgan Tsvangirai speaks in Harare on August 1, 2013/AFP

Africa

Mugabe rivals urge ‘passive resistance,’ reject poll

Jeffrey Smith, from the Washington-based Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights, said that while it would be wrong to rush to disregard the final results, “we must also not be blind to potential irregularities both leading up to the vote and on the (voting) day.”

After years of international sanctions, there had been hopes that a free election would allow Zimbabwe to reset relations with the West.

Final results are expected within five days of the election and police had warned that anyone trying to release unofficial figures ahead of time risked being arrested.

Mugabe himself had even threatened to arrest Tsvangirai if he tried to declare an early victory.

On Tuesday the firebrand vowed to step down if Tsvangirai won, saying: “If you lose you must surrender.”

Mugabe shot to prominence as a hero of Africa’s liberation movement, guiding Zimbabwe to independence in 1980 from Britain and white minority rule.

But his military-backed rule has been marked by controversial land reforms, a series of violent crackdowns, economic crises and suspect elections that have brought international sanctions and made him a pariah in the West.

As the economy recovers from a crisis that saw mass unemployment and galloping inflation, Mugabe loyalists insist their hero is “tried and tested” and dismiss concerns about his age.

Mugabe had focused his campaign on attacking homosexuals and on promises to widen the redistribution of wealth to poor black Zimbabweans.

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Tsvangirai himself had predicted the MDC would win “quite resoundingly”.

The 61-year-old former union boss won the first round of voting in 2008, but was forced out of the race after 200 of his supporters were killed and thousands more injured in suspected state-backed attacks.

Tsvangirai hoped his plans to lure back foreign investors, create a million jobs in five years and improve public services would deliver a long-awaited victory.

But some Western analysts said this could be Tsvangirai’s last bid at the country’s top job if the MDC fails to prevent Mugabe, Africa’s oldest leader, sweeping to a seventh term.

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