ZIMBABWE:THE POLITBURO of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's ruling party will meet today to decide on a way forward for their embattled leader, a senior party official has said.
The 84-year-old president will chair the Zanu-PF party meeting amid uncertainty over whether he will participate in a second-round run-off for Zimbabwe's top office against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who claims he won the March 29th presidential election with 50.3 per cent of the vote. To win outright, a candidate must secure 50 per cent plus one vote.
Zimbabwe has been racked by rumour and speculation as to what their five-times president will do since it became apparent that neither he, nor his party, had secured automatic re-election or a parliamentary majority following last Saturday's ballot.
While the official result from the presidential election has still not been released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, it is widely believed that, other than a military crackdown, the only way Mr Mugabe can retain power is through a second-round head-to-head against Mr Tsvangirai, his main rival.
Aside from reviewing the party's official parliamentary defeat to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) by 109 seats to 95, Mr Mugabe is expected to gauge whether he has enough support in his party to take on Mr Tsvangirai.
Zimbabwe is in the grip of the worst economic and political crisis in its 28-year history. More than 80 per cent of the population live in poverty and inflation is running officially at 100,586 per cent.
Earlier this year Simba Makoni, a senior Zanu-PF official, decided to run against his former leader in the presidential election and over the course of his campaign he indicated that many members of the ruling party were disgruntled with Mr Mugabe's leadership.
While unofficial polls gave Mr Makoni only 8.6 per cent of the vote, Mr Mugabe and Zanu-PF's poor showing in the election could lead to a more significant exodus from the ruling regime, which would hamper Mr Mugabe's attempts at re-election.
Zanu-PF's secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa, would not comment on whether the party was planning a strategy that would pave the way for Mr Mugabe to take on Mr Tsvangirai for a second time in a month.
"All I can confirm is there is a politburo meeting. That's enough, that's all I can say at the moment," he told reporters.
However, deputy information minister Bright Matonga maintained earlier that the party was ready for a second round despite calls by the opposition to concede defeat and avoid embarrassment.
"From Zanu-PF's perspective, we are very confident that we've got the numbers. When it comes to a rerun, we're ready for that second round, and we are confident that president Robert Mugabe will win this time," said Mr Matonga.
Meanwhile, the state-run Herald newspaper yesterday launched a campaign vilifying the opposition in what appears to be an attempt to garner support for Mr Mugabe ahead of a potential second-round ballot. The paper portrayed the MDC and Mr Tsvangirai as stooges of the British who would hand farms currently in hands of black Zimbabweans back to their former white owners.
The first public signs of African diplomats' mediation efforts materialised yesterday when Sierra Leone's former president, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, revealed that he had met both Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai.
Mr Kabbah, who headed the African Union mission which monitored the polls, said Mr Mugabe appeared "relaxed" during their talks. "He is of the view that the problems facing the country will be resolved amicably. He hopes the rest of the results will be forthcoming," he said.