The Observers | de France 24

"The government's waiting to declare Mugabe as president"

The Zimbabwean capital of Harare is teeming with rumours following Saturday's elections. If you believe everything you hear then Mugabe has fled the country and militants are about to ambush the government. For Bev Clark, our Observer in the city, the government is delaying the results, which have been rigged to favour Mugabe, to avoid riots.

The Independent Results Centre, whose first estimations we published yesterday, has today released figures that show Mugabe in a far more favourable light. The current president's share of the votes has increased from 37% to 42% overnight, while opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's count has dropped from 58% to 51%.

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Bev Clark

Bev Clark runs Kubatana.net: an "online community of activists". She lives in Harare.

The government is releasing results gradually to calm emotions. I think they'll announce the presidential election result on Wednesday- which will declare Mugabe as winner- because if they do it at the weekend people will have more time to motivate others and cause a commotion. During the week, they're more likely to get on with their day to day lives.

There are all sorts of rumours going round. Some have even said that both Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai have left the country in fear. It's entirely mind blowing that people think you can unseat a dictator through elections only.

Lots of people are emailing in to ask us what's going on, as there are no independent daily newspapers and the weeklies, the Zimbabwe Gazette and the Zimbabwe Independent, come out on Thursday and Friday. People are in a suspended state, just waiting and wondering. They're frustrated and irritated, but they're slipping back into normal life."

Bev Clark