South Africa gives Zimbabwean election thumbs-up

The South African observer mission (SAOM) on Saturday gave the Zimbabwean election the thumbs-up, saying the results reflected the will of the people.

Zimbabwe's ruling party steamrolled to victory in Thursday's parliamentary election, winning a two-thirds majority in the legislature.

In a statement issued on Saturday by the SAOM, the delegation said the parliamentary election was conducted in line with the laws of the country which "by and large conform to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) guidelines governing the elections."

"The political climate in Zimbabwe, under which the 2005 parliamentary elections were held, was conducive for elections to take place. Polling day proceeded without any notable irregularities reported," said SAOM, which is led by South African Labor Minister Membathisi Mdladlana.

Mdladlana said the elections reflected the will of the people.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's prediction that his party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), would gain a two-thirds majority victory came true on Saturday when final results showed the party won 78 seats.

Meanwhile, the country's opposition party leader Morgan Tsvangirai has challenged the results of the election, saying no "sane person would endorse these elections."

Final results showed his party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had won 41 seats, mostly drawn from the cities. The remaining one of the legislature's 120 contested seats went to an independent candidate.

Source: Xinhua