Mugabe Wins Despite Biased Propaganda

 



  
TEHRAN TIMES INTL. DESK

  TEHRAN -- President Robert Mugabe easily won Zimbabwe's election 
on Wednesday despite biased propaganda unleashed against him by 
some Western countries, accusing him of being unfair towards the 
opposition.

  Results announced by Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede at 0800 
GMT showed Mugabe with 1,634,382 votes, well past the 50 percent 
of ballots cast that he needed to extend his 22-year rule for 
six more year.

  His challenger, former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai, trailed 
almost half a million votes behind. Mudede said 3.1 million 
people voted in the three-day election.

  There were fears of a violent reaction from Tsvangirai's 
supporters, and security forces were put on high alert and 
police put up road blocks on approach roads to the capital 
Harare.

  Australia said it feared violence if voters thought the election 
had been stolen. Canberra is a member of a Three-Nation 
Commonwealth task force monitoring the election.

  Tsvangirai, saying Mugabe has destroyed the economy of the once 
prosperous nation, accused the president of systematically 
stealing the election to hide his deep unpopularity with voters, 
Reuters reported.

  Mugabe's government has dismissed criticism of the poll, which 
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo called "exemplary".

  Western countries queued up to condemn the election in which the 
78-year-old president faced his first real challenge.

  The United States, condemning the reduction of polling stations 
in opposition urban strongholds, said the election was 
"seriously flawed" and riddled with irregularities.

  Australia and Britain led an unsuccessful call for commonwealth 
sanctions against Mugabe before the election.

  New Zealand said on Wednesday it was ready to impose sanctions 
against Zimbabwe if the commonwealth decided not to suspend the 
country after the vote.