Mugabe warns rival not to claim win early

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe greets his supporters alongside his wife Grace after his address at a rally in Harare.

Reuters/HarareZimbabwean President Robert Mugabe yesterday warned his main rival Morgan Tsvangirai that he would be arrested if he claimed victory before official results were announced in an election this week.In his final campaign rally ahead of a presidential and parliamentary vote on Wednesday, Mugabe said his ZANU-PF party was confident of victory, which would extend his three decades in power.But he expressed concern that Tsvangirai, who is making a third run at the presidency, had threatened not to wait for official results from the electoral authorities.Tsvangirai told his own Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)supporters at the weekend that although ZANU-PF was trying to rig the elections, he expected an overwhelming victory and did not have to wait for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).Yesterday, Mugabe dismissed Tsvangirai’s charges of ZANU-PF vote rigging as unfounded complaints of a “political cry baby” staring at inevitable defeat, warning him to respect laws giving only the ZEC the power to announce results.“I can tell you in advance that if you breach the law and become a law breaker, the police will arrest you,” he said to cheers from thousands of supporters at a stadium in Harare.In 2008, the election commission announced presidential election results after five weeks, which showed Tsvangirai had beaten Mugabe but not by enough votes to avoid a run-off.Tsvangirai will address his last major rally today.Although both Mugabe and Tsvangirai have been predicting that they would win the July 31 contest by huge margins, political analysts say it could be a tight race in which Mugabe’s control of the electoral machinery might prove the decisive element.Yesterday, the veteran Zimbabwean leader - who denies he has been receiving treatment for prostate cancer in Singapore over the last few years - said he deserved re-election to continue a black economic empowerment drive opposed by the MDC.“Tsvangirai and his MDC are shameless Western puppets, created by the West, funded and controlled by the West, and I urge you to reject them once and for all in these elections,” he said, repeating charges he makes often about his rivals but which the MDC strongly denies.Mugabe jokingly said he would suffer heart failure if the capital Harare, an MDC stronghold in which ZANU-PF won just one of the 29 parliamentary seats in the 2008 elections, backed Tsvangirai again at the polls.Mugabe was driven around Harare’s main stadium yesterday, waving at supporters from the back of a truck surrounded by heavily armed security men, some with automatic rifles.Despite his age and fears that his health is failing, Mugabe has said ZANU-PF would fight like a “wounded beast” to retain power after being forced into a compromise unity government after the contested 2008 election outcome.Zimbabwean police yesterday arrested an aide to Morgan Tsvangirai, President Robert Mugabe’s main rival in upcoming polls, after he reported an irregularity in early voting. The Movement for Democratic Change said Morgan Komichi was arrested after informing the electoral commission that ballot papers marked for Tsvangirai had been found in a dustbin after security forces voted at the Harare International Conference Centre two weeks ahead of nationwide polling on July 31. “Around 6am (0400 GMT) our deputy national chairman, Honourable Morgan Komichi, who is a deputy minister of transport, was picked up at his home by the police,” the MDC’s Nelson Chamisa told reporters. Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba confirmed the arrest just three days before general elections that will end an uneasy unity government between Mugabe, 89, and his archrival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. “Yes, he has been arrested,” .Komichi, Tsvangirai’s delegate at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), this week handed the polling panel an envelope with ballot papers in favour of Tsvangirai. The MDC said several such ballots had been dumped in a dustbin at the conference centre where security forces, who will be on duty in Wednesday’s polls, voted early on July 14 and 15. Now police threaten to charge Komichi for contravening electoral laws if he refuses to reveal his source. “As long as he refuses to disclose the identity of this person the police will hold him accountable, therefore he becomes the prime suspect,” said Charamba. But Mugabe branded Tsvangirai a “cry-baby”, pledging the polls will be legitimate. “It’s going to be free and fair. We are not forcing anyone to vote this way or that way,” Mugabe told reporters after addressing his final campaign rally in Harare.