Are the MDC-T MP’s going to accept their positions or boycott this new government? via Twitter

The worst thing that ever happened to Zim was the GPA? (Duh) via Twitter

Tsvangirai’s decline mainly has to do with the way the MDC-T relaxed when it joined government. Tsvangirai’s team was too pre-occupied with luxuries like cars and houses rather than focusing on issues affecting ordinary people and the need for change. They also became complacent and arrogant. While Mugabe and Zanu PF used the inclusive government to regroup, the MDC relaxed in there. Tsvangirai and MDC-T must take full responsibility for the consequences of their actions in the last four years. They have no one else but themselves to blame. – Blessing Vava in the Zimbabwe Independent

Zimbabwe’s presidential and parliamentary elections were “free, honest and credible” – Olusegun Obasanjo, African Union via BBC

A deep silence has settled
no jubilant cheering crowds
no smiled greetings from vendors at traffic lights/on the streets/in the shops

just a stunned disbelieving quietness
just deep, tired  lines etched on the kind , caring faces around me

today …

and we turn into tomorrow
knowing that we are still here
just where we are meant to be
that ours is not to choose to turn and face the wall
but to keep stepping with grace
over stony ground

that we are here with deep learning
each with a different calling
but with the knowing that our greatest work
is to bring peace
into our families and communities and children

is to stay connected to what is real and beautiful
the happy voice of the young boy named Perfect playing next door
and the wide eyed welcoming smile of my grandson

to keep stepping with grace
over stony ground

Photo: Jamie McLaren

Never my first choice for ear candy, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) news bulletins make for particularly depressing listening tonight.

Not known for its balanced reporting, the state broadcaster’s definition of “news” generally leaves a lot to be desired. But it is probably safe to assume that, especially during Zimbabwe’s elections, ZBC’s reports mirror the government’s (Zanu PF’s) position.

Whilst the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has yet to release election results, the news on ZBC radio tells me that “analysts” refer to a “Zanu PF landslide,” with Zanu PF winning municipal council majorities in places like Gwanda North. (Given the pesky businesses with Gukurahundi, this is difficult to believe). It also references last year’s Freedom House report, which noted an increase in Zanu PF’s support.

So yes. It is too early to say. Hopefully I will be proven wrong! But it sounds like the results which the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announces will be heavily in favour of Zanu PF. They may even give Zanu PF a 2/3 majority in Parliament, which would certainly be useful to them.

Note I don’t say “the election results.” Zimbabwe’s election was flawed from the day President Mugabe proclaimed the election date. This date was conveniently in line with a judgement from the newly-formed Constitutional Court. But inconveniently illegally declared, called for unconstitutionally promulgated changes to the Electoral Act, and required the election to break its own rules, by holding Nomination Court whilst voter registration was still open. And let’s not talk about the voters’ roll or special voting.

At the time, MDC’s President (and Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister) Morgan Tsvangirai vowed he would not stand by whilst “Zimbabwe was railroaded to another illegitimate election.” But, it would appear, that is exactly what he did. In a press briefing today, he said:

This election has been a huge farce. Its credibility has been marred by administrative and legal violations which affect the legitimacy of its outcome. The outcome of this election is illegitimate. But more importantly, the shoddy manner in which it has been conducted and the consequent illegitimacy of the result will plunge this country into a serious crisis.

But, calling foul after polling has closed, makes it easy for ZBC (and others) to label him as simply a sore loser.

As Foreign Affairs pointed our recently:

If Robert Mugabe has his way, the results of Zimbabwe’s July 31, 2013, presidential, parliamentary, and local government elections will have been determined before a single ballot is cast. The wily 89-year-old autocratic president, in power for 33 years, has put in place a system of security, legal, fiscal, and administrative measures aimed at again returning his Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) to national office.

The real tragedy isn’t Zimbabweans stolen ballots. Its that they were ever allowed to cast them in an election that was illegal and unconstitutional from the day it was announced. Like Marko Phiri pointed out when Mugabe announced the election date six weeks ago, “if Mugabe can unilaterally call for polls, what is to stop him from declaring himself the winner” (regardless of whether he actually won or not).

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) today issued a press briefing in which they said, among other things:

This election has been a huge farce. Its credibility has been marred by administrative and legal violations which affect the legitimacy of its outcome. The election has been heavily manipulated. In our view, the outcome of this election is illegitimate. But more importantly, the shoddy manner in which it has been conducted and the consequent illegitimacy of the result will plunge this country into a serious crisis.

In its preliminary statement on the Harmonised Elections, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) said:

Based on the empirical reports from our observers, regardless of the outcome, the credibility of the 2013 Harmonised Elections is seriously compromised by a systematic effort to disenfranchise an estimated million voters. We reiterate that, it is not sufficient for elections to be peaceful. For elections to be credible they must offer all eligible citizens a reasonable opportunity to register to vote; to inform themselves about the candidates; to vote on election day and for their votes to be properly counted. We are deeply concerned that for urban voters the first three principles have already been violated.

We shared this information with our SMS subscribers. Here are some of their responses in their own words:

• Only that he is not the one speaking, he wants to satisfy his masters not Zims (if he is normal aidyiwa semi kumba kwake, tell the zesn kuti yadyiwa neimwe yacho! Bhora mugedhi Buhera he has two councillors only
• What’s the way forward?
• Help us God. Going back to those days of no water, no food, no electricity again
• Feel very sad today,
• Election was free and fair. Tsvangirai clanged to power yet he was decampaigning himself messing each n every day he should have let someone better lead the party rather than put the party in a plunge. Results are more than fair, the Tsvangirai youth didn’t register neither did they vote so how could they win
• Yes we all know that but what can be done about it MDC is powerless
• What is the way forward
• MDC people were arrogant they did not plan they should have boycotted at the initial stage during registration.
• So what can we do now
• So what is next?
• What is the way forward
• Its important to let people known the truth, and not jus rhetoric and outbursts that lack evidentiary material…whose legitimacy and illegitimacy here?
• We are so desperate we no longer know what to do we a just praying to God to intervene
• It’s ok, lets leave to the God.
• We ready for anything Zimbabwe ngeye ropa not yezvimbwasungata aluta continua
• Sham election. The worst rigging ever.
• Tsvangirai is sometimes a cry baby it is to early to rush into making such statements
• This election was not legitimate in some areas. Some did not vote. I was an agent & @ e polling station were i was 114 people did not vote because there was  less tym 2 register and some because of fear.
• If Zanu wins there is going to be another crisis in Zim with people flocking to SA and other neighbouring countries.
• Why did Tsvangson participate in the fist place? Hatichamuvimbi. (We’ve lost faith in him.)

Political parties in Zimbabwe win elections in two ways: by mobilizing their own supporters and suppressing the opposition vote. With its origins as an armed guerrilla insurgency, Zanu-PF has always used both approaches, combining force and patronage to build a political base of “no-go” zones in the country’s rural northeast where the MDC cannot campaign. Absent deep roots in either the labour movement or business community, Zanu-PF long ago lost the allegiance of most urban voters. For its part, however, the MDC, with its undisciplined performance in the coalition government, failed to consolidate its early support among these same groups. It also neglected the need to rebuild its own organization and consummate a grand coalition with minor opposition parties.

More from Michael Bratton writing for Foreign Affairs here