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Mugabe Losing Support of Elites
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A ruling party businessman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a Tsvangirai victory might be accepted if he agreed not to take away farms that Mugabe had doled out, to peasants as well as political cronies. "If he gives this land back to the whites, then we have a problem with him," the businessman said.
Analyst John Makumbe, a longtime Mugabe critic, said anxiety within the ruling party was running high. "They are not really unified," he said, predicting that Mugabe's departure was imminent. "They know they cannot make it. They know he cannot survive a second round" of voting.
The political stalemate has captivated Zimbabweans, especially in Harare, the capital, where a blizzard of rumors dominated an anxious day of waiting.
The president's fall would be exceeded, in terms of historic importance here, only by the end of white supremacist rule in 1980, when the nation was called Rhodesia and faced a tenacious guerrilla force led by Mugabe. He has ruled the country ever since.
Tsvangirai, 56, a former trade unionist with a gregarious brand of charisma but limited formal education, has vowed to enact a broad renewal plan to stabilize the currency, curb 100,000 percent inflation and provide free primary education as well as widespread access to antiretroviral drugs to combat one of the world's worst AIDS epidemics.
Opposition party officials have repeatedly refused to answer questions about elements of any possible political deal to ease Mugabe from office.
Tsvangirai also said at his news conference that the parliamentary results released so far by the electoral commission appear to be in line with those posted at polling stations and collected by the opposition party.
"President Mugabe said that he's an honest man and he doesn't believe in cheating," Tsvangirai said. "I hope when the vote is announced that it is an honest vote."
