Pro-Mugabe Newspaper Proposes National Unity Government

Zimbabwe's state-run press is floating the possibility that Robert Mugabe will annul last month's presidential election and call for a national unity government with himself remaining president while a new constitution is negotiated and a fresh ballot held.

The proposal, contained in a comment article in the Herald newspaper, is not a formal Zanu-PF plan as yet but the hard line paper is often used by the ruling party to lay the ground for policy changes.

But the proposal is viewed by the opposition as another attempt by Mugabe to overturn the election results.

With the results of the presidential ballot still not announced nearly four weeks after the election, and a partial recount of parliamentary and presidential votes taking days, it is increasingly apparent that the government is undecided on the way forward despite its uncompromising rhetoric.

Any reversal of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's newly won control of parliament or attempt to claim that Mugabe was victorious in the presidential election is likely to be met with incredulity and charges of ballot rigging.

Zanu-PF has touted the probability of a run-off election between Mugabe and the MDC presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai. But notwithstanding the ruling party's ongoing campaign of violence against the opposition in rural areas, Mugabe can be far from certain of winning, particularly with growing regional scrutiny.

So the government appears to be stalling for time while it finds a credible way to hold on to power.

In the Herald article, Obediah Mukura Mazombwe, a pro-Zanu-PF academic, proposed that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) be brought in to help establish an interim power sharing government while a new constitution is negotiated. He says that administration should be headed by Mugabe until fresh elections can be organized after a referendum on the constitution.

"The [ruling] party should allow MDC-Tsvangirai, now in virtual exile, to return home and freely negotiate its participation in a SADC-mediated process that should lead to the establishment a transitional government of national unity led by the incumbent president," he wrote.

Mazombwe said the annulling of the election and a power-sharing government is necessary because of rising tensions on the ground. The MDC says Zanu-PF is creating those tensions through violence against opposition voters that has claimed at least 10 lives, seen hundreds of people severely beaten and forced thousands to flee their homes.

Tsvangirai said this week that he is prepared to accept a power sharing government but that he must be installed as president and Mugabe must retire. He also insists that Zanu-PF must not be in a majority in the cabinet.

Tsvangirai called for African leaders to acknowledge that he won the vote and warned that the continent's would suffer "serious disrepute" if Mugabe remained in power.