A runoff will be necessary to decide Zimbabwe's presidential election, a Cabinet minister said today, citing the government's own election results.
Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga's comments came a day after Zimbabwe's opposition rejected a runoff.
That's despite a media report that the official tally - still not released more than a month after the vote - showed its candidate beat Mr Robert Mugabe, but not by enough to avoid a second round.
Robert Mugabe
Mr Matonga said Mr Mugabe's party will take part in a runoff. "As far as I'm concerned, there is going to be a runoff," Mr Matonga said. "We have got our own results."
Yesterday, US news agency CNN quoted an unidentified senior official with Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party as saying results from the March 29th election gave opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai 47 per cent of the votes while Mr Mugabe trailed with 43 per cent.
Mr Matonga would not say whether the report was correct or give details about the figures he said the government has. But he said no one won the 50 per cent plus one vote needed to avoid a runoff.
Independent observers have been saying that Mr Tsvangirai won the most votes, but not enough to avoid a runoff. Mr Tsvangirai insists he won outright.
Individual polling stations have posted results, allowing parties and others to compile their own tallies while the nation awaits official results from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
Mr Tsvangirai and rights groups have accused Mr Mugabe of withholding the results to buy time to steal a runoff through intimidation or fraud.
Electoral commission officials said late last night that no official results had been released and that party officials would not see them until a verification process begins this afternoon.
The opposition says a campaign of terror and violence since the first round of voting has left the movement in a disarray, with its main leaders staying out of the country for fear of arrest.