PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's grip on power slipped yesterday after a recount showed his party had all but failed to secure control of Zimbabwe's parliament, his first defeat in 28 years.
Results of a parallel presidential poll have not been released and Mugabe has been preparing for a run-off against Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Tsvangirai says he won outright and his party has
rejected both the recount and any talk of a run-off.
For the first time since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, the MDC wrested a parliamentary majority from Mugabe's Zanu-PF party in the election, triggering a recount in 23 out of the 210 constituencies.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said that in 14 out of 23 seats recounted so far, the original results were confirmed.
The commission had ordered the recount after Zanu-PF accused election officials of taking bribes to under-count votes for Mugabe and his ruling party and committing other electoral fraud.
A number of election officials have been arrested.
To win back a parliamentary majority, the ruling party needed to win nine more seats than it did in the first count. Only nine are left to be counted – but Zanu-PF had already won three of those in the first count.
Delays in the recount and in announcing the presidential result have brought growing international pressure on the 84-year-old president and stoked fears of vote-rigging and bloodshed in a country suffering an economic collapse.
"This recount was a charade and a flawed process. The attempt was to reverse the will of the people and we rejected the recount from the onset," said MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa.
"But I can confirm that our earlier majority has been reconfirmed according to information we are receiving."
The ZEC said yesterday it was not sure when the results of a disputed March 29 presidential election would be available.
"I can't say exactly when the results will come," ZEC Chairman, George Chiweshe, announced.
Meanwhile, Britain said it deplored the escalating violence against opposition supporters and called for a UN mission to inspect human rights abuses.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is seeking an arms embargo on Mugabe's Zanu-PF, said Britain would step up diplomatic efforts ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on the former British colony.
"The coming days will be critical.
"We will intensify international action around a UNSC discussion on Tuesday. We will press for a UN mission to investigate the violence and human rights abuses," he said in a statement.
"The whole international community must speak up against the climate of fear in Zimbabwe."
Brown also insisted on international monitors if there is a run-off for the presidency.
He said: "I welcome the positions taken by the UN Secretary General, by African leaders, by Europe, by the US and by all those who want to see a return to democracy in Zimbabwe.
"We, and others, stand ready to help rebuild Zimbabwe once democracy returns. I pledge that Britain will be in the vanguard of this effort."
On Friday, Mugabe resorted to strong measures used in the past to keep the opposition in check, in what Human Rights Watch said was a stepped-up "campaign of organised terror and torture against opposition activists and ordinary Zimbabweans".
The government denies it is waging a violent campaign.
Armed riot police raided the MDC's headquarters and detained scores of people in the toughest measures against the opposition since the disputed elections.
The MDC said those detained included supporters who had sought refuge with them after fleeing various parts of the country "where the regime has been unleashing brutal violence".
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said 215 people had been arrested in the raid, and no one had been charged yet.
"We have released the elderly and women with babies. There are about 30 of them. We are still doing profiles for the others and checking with their provinces on whether they have committed any crimes there," he said.
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said 62 people had come in for treatment over three days, some with broken limbs and one with an axe wound on the back of his head.
South Africa's UN envoy Dumisani Kumalo said someone from the UN secretariat would brief the 15-nation council, probably on Tuesday, on developments in Zimbabwe.
The Western diplomat on the council said any action in the form of a statement or resolution was unlikely. But the meeting would be useful in increasing pressure on Mugabe.
Mugabe, a hero of the independence struggle, accuses the opposition of conspiring with Western critics to end his almost three decades in power, which began with high hopes that Zimbabwe would become an African model of democratic and economic success.
Today, Zimbabweans face severe shortages of basic goods and an inflation rate of 165,000% – the world's highest.
• The Lib Dems have written to Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell, calling for Mugabe to be stripped of his honorary knighthood, awarded in 1994.
A cross-party group of 19 MPs have also signed a Commons motion expressing regret that the knighthood was ever awarded and calling for its removal.
Last year, Mugabe was stripped of his honorary degree from Edinburgh University following a campaign led by students and Scotland on Sunday.
The Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman said: "The British public will be shocked and outraged that Robert Mugabe still retains a knighthood.
"It shows how slow Britain has been to use what little power we have against this tyrant."
The full article contains 938 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
