There are fears that people who did not vote could be victimised [EPA]

With Robert Mugabe, the incumbent president, certain to win, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said on Saturday he was only being kept in power by force and with help from Thabo Mbeki, the South African president .

The MDC, whose leader Morgan Tsvangirai boycotted Friday's poll after a wave of deadly attacks against his supporters, suffered a  major blow overnight when South Africa blocked a move at the UN to declare the election illegitimate.

The United States and its European allies had pushed for a  resolution that would have stated the results "could have no  credibility or legitimacy" but South Africa argued the Security Council was not in the business of certifying elections.

The council instead merely issued an oral statement expressing  "deep regret" that the election went ahead after widespread calls  for it to be shelved.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, has said the US might introduce a UN resolution calling for sanctions against Zimbabwe.

African summit

But African foreign ministers meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh said on Saturday that getting Mugabe and Zimbabwe's opposition to talk will have better results than punitive measures.

Moses Watangula, the Kenyan foreign minister, said the route of sanctions may not be helpful for the southern African country.

Ralph Black, the MDC's representative in the United States, told Al Jazeera that a government of national unity may diffuse the current crisis.

"They must agree to form a government of national unity," he said.

"The two parties must come together to select and share power, but we believe Mugabe must not be part of a unity government - this is because the destruction of Zimbabwe's democratic institutions lies squarely at his feet."

Poll pullout

Tsvangirai won the first round of the election on March 29,  falling just short of the 50 per cent threshold needed to avoid a  run-off.
 
But he decided to pull out of the run-off last weekend after the  MDC claimed nearly 90 of its supporters had been killed in attacks  by pro-Mugabe thugs and some 200,000 voters disenfranchised after  being driven from their homes.

Amid widespread reports that the electorate was being coerced  into voting for Mugabe, Tsvangirai advised followers on Friday against futile gestures of defiance in what he derided as an  "exercise in mass intimidation".
 
Turnout was "massive" in the election, the official newspaper The Herald reported on Saturday, but provided no figures.

Recommend this article...

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto: