Mugabe Will Fight On, His Party Says

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Dampening speculation that Zimbabwe’s strongman, President Robert Mugabe, would step down after 28 years in power, the senior leadership of the country’s ruling party decided Friday that he should participate in a runoff with the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, if neither one of them won a majority. As if to highlight the continued resolve of the ruling party, known as ZANU-PF, the headline in Saturday’s online edition of the Herald, the state-run newspaper, read: “ZANU-PF readies for battle.” Six days after Zimbabwe voted, there was still no definitive answer to who won. Zimbabwe’s electoral commission has yet to release the result of the presidential vote, though Mr. Mugabe’s party has lost its majority in the lower house of Parliament for the first time since the country’s independence from white rule in 1980. The ruling party was also trailing the opposition in the contest for the 60-seat Senate, 20 to 23 seats, according to results released Friday. The slowness to announce a presidential victor has led to deep suspicions of vote tampering and international criticism. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said that it would go to court to try to force the government to release the results, news services reported. From its own tally of the votes posted at each polling station, the opposition says that Mr. Tsvangirai eked out a bare majority. But while an independent projection of results by local democracy advocates put Mr. Tsvangirai well ahead of Mr. Mugabe, it was not by enough to avoid a second round of voting. The ruling party’s decision on the runoff came after a marathon all day meeting of its politburo. Didymus Mutasa, the ruling party’s secretary for administration, told journalists afterward that there was a consensus Mr. Mugabe should stand in a second round of voting. “Mugabe, our dear old man, remains our candidate,” Mr. Mutasa was quoted as saying in the Herald. “We shall take him and carry him along with us.” ZANU-PF officials also said they would seek a recount for 16 seats in Parliament’s lower house — enough to swing control back to their party if successfully challenged — alleging the opposition had bribed election officials and voters. Still, a politburo member, speaking anonymously because the deliberations were private, said the meeting was tense amid recriminations over the party’s weak showing in Parliament. Even before the election, he said, some members had objected to Mr. Mugabe, 84, again being the party’s presidential standard bearer, fearing he would damage their own prospects of keeping their seats. George Sitbotshiwe, a spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Mr. Tsvangirai’s party, accused the electoral commission yesterday of being "in cahoots" with the ruling party, ZANU-PF, but said even if it found the Mr. Tsvangirai had not won a majority and forced a run-off, the opposition would still win. Violence of the kind unleashed by the ruling party’s supporters in past elections will not intimidate M.D.C. voters, he said. "Even if he chops 1000 heads off," he will still lose the election, Mr. Sitbotshiwe said, referring to Mr. Mugabe. In a crackdown on Thursday, the government staged police raids against the Movement for Democratic Change, foreign journalists and at least one American democracy advocate helping local groups to monitor the election process, raising the specter of a broad effort aimed at keeping the country’s imperiled leadership in power. President Bush, traveling to Croatia after a meeting of NATO leaders in Romania, telephoned the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, on Friday to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe, the White House press secretary, Dana M. Perino, said. “As we’ve said, our position is we are concerned about violence," she said.Leaders of the M.D.C. said the raids heralded a campaign of political repression to safeguard Mr. Mugabe, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders. Mr. Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe for all but a few months of its history, is widely judged a hero of the nation’s struggle against white rule. He has become deeply unpopular, though, as the economy has imploded and dissent has been stifled. Inflation has soared to an almost unfathomable rate of 100,000 percent. The streets were quiet in Harare, the capital, on Friday night after the politburo meeting. There were few people on the streets, except for riot police, who seemed to be out in greater numbers in the city center than at any time since the recent troubles began. They walked in groups of four to eight, wearing blue helmets and carrying sticks. People interviewed on the street said they were waiting for change in the country that they believed should have come by now. One man, Nyasha Dube, a short, heavy set man in his late 20s, who standing near shops in downtown Harare, said: "People are holding on and they are feeling down." Earlier in the day, the Associated Press reported that hundreds of war veterans loyal to Mr. Mugabe marched in police escort through Harare in a show a force to protest the opposition’s challenge to the government. But one witness on the street described a much smaller, more subdued progression, perhaps no more than a few dozen: "There was no march, only the politburo members walking to the meeting alongside with war veterans, who are both supporters of Mugabe." Tsitsi, a woman in her 30s with long hair who gave only her first name for safety reasons, was coming out of a take-away food shop in downtown Harare. She said many of the police on the street were casting hungry glances at the food she was carrying, Sadza, a local dish made out of corn. "The police are marching everywhere, up and down in the city center,” she said “They are looking very hungry for food."