Word: run-off
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...imminent release of the results may be a result of increasing pressure from African leaders to resolve the crisis. And although analysts had expected that after the four-week delay, the result would give Mugabe a razor-thin majority, forcing a run-off that the ruling party would then try to win through violent intimidation, the fact that the recount upheld the opposition parliamentary victory may have revised pessimistic expectations. "I think it's going to be very difficult for them to announce anything other than a Tsvangirai win tomorrow," Zimbabwean human rights activist Elinor Sisulu told TIME from South...
...delay is widely seen as a stalling tactic by Mugabe's Zanu-PF regime to give its "shock troops," government-allied mobs known as the "war veterans," to fan out across the country, seize land and intimidate voters in the event of an eventual presidential run-off. Tsvangirai told TIME this week that what was happening in Zimbabwe was a "de facto military coup." Government spokesman Bright Matonga has countered - with no evidence to support his claims, however - that the veterans are trying to resist a program of land seizures by white farmers crossing into Zimbabwe from South Africa...
...also won the presidential race, beating Robert Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 28 years, with 50.3% of the vote. The official results have yet to be released, as Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) have demanded a recount. The state press is predicting a run-off between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, and a loose pro-Mugabe force known as the "war veterans" has begun a campaign of intimidation and land seizure across Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai spoke to TIME's Africa bureau chief, Alex Perry, by telephone from an undisclosed location inside Zimbabwe...
...Mugabe to concede defeat. He is trying to be defiant. The military leaders in the establishment are trying to subvert the will of the people. This is, in a sense, a de facto military coup. They have rolled out military forces across the whole country, to prepare for a run-off and try to cow the population. It's an attempt to try to create conditions for Mugabe...
...arrest of two Western journalists accused of working without accreditation (something they are routinely refused) on Thursday night. M.D.C. secretary general Tendai Biti reacted by saying Mugabe had "declared war." At a press conference Saturday, Tsvangirai warned of a gathering "war against the people," adding, "In the run-off, violence will be the weapon." Tsvangirai flew to South Africa late on Sunday for talks to try to bolster international pressure on Mugabe...