Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, April 4, 2008

HARARE, Zimbabwe, April 3 -- President Robert Mugabe's fractured inner circle called an emergency meeting for Friday morning to debate whether the president should step down or participate in a second round of voting against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who appeared to receive more votes in last weekend's election, ruling party sources said.

Several ruling party sources, including one of Mugabe's closest confidants, said Thursday that three options were under discussion: a negotiated, immediate departure for Mugabe; a second round of voting by April 19 as required by law if no candidate has a majority; or a 90-day state of emergency in hopes of improving conditions before an eventual runoff. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

The dire state of Zimbabwe's finances make organizing a second round of voting difficult, sources said. Some ruling party officials are arguing that a runoff this month is impractical and that Mugabe must use emergency presidential powers to delay that vote until June or July.

Amid anxiety about the election results, police in the capital, Harare, raided opposition party hotel rooms and a lodge where several foreigners were staying. Among those detained was New York Times correspondent Barry Bearak, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Afghanistan in 2002. Police also led away a second journalist and two other foreigners whose identities were not immediately known.

The newspaper issued a statement saying Bearak was being held for violating journalism laws. "We are making every effort to assure that he is well treated, and to secure his prompt release," said Executive Editor Bill Keller.

Zimbabwean officials have barred all but a handful of foreign correspondents from covering the election. Many of those working in the country are without official credentials, which the Information Ministry gives out selectively, mostly to journalists from countries seen as friendly to Mugabe's rule.

The pace of diplomatic activity intensified throughout the day, with South African officials shuttling between Mugabe's camp and Tsvangirai's. Key issues in their talks included whether Mugabe and his allies would receive immunity from prosecution for any crimes against humanity, including the slaughter of thousands from the Ndebele minority group in the 1980s, the sources said.

As the discussions continued, both sides prepared for the possibility of another election in a little more than two weeks.

"We're ready for it," said Tendai Biti, secretary general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. "We'll not just beat him, we'll embarrass him."

Mugabe's family members and several close friends are urging the 84-year-old leader to retire, ruling party sources said, while a group of hard-liners is calling on him to run in a second round.

The government's Herald newspaper, controlled by Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba, implicitly acknowledged that the president did not win Saturday's vote when it predicted a runoff.

Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga, meanwhile, told the BBC that the ruling party had let Mugabe down and would be better prepared for a second round of voting. "This time it will be a resounding victory for the president," Matonga said.

No results from the presidential election have been announced, but final results from parliamentary elections also held Saturday showed that opposition forces won 110 seats in the 210-member lower house. It was the first time that the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, generally called ZANU-PF, has lost control of a branch of government since the creation of Zimbabwe in 1980 out of a former British colony.

"The vast majority in ZANU-PF, even at the top levels, accept that they were defeated by a better party," said political analyst Eldred Masunungure.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, who led a southern African regional mediation effort over the past year to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe, called for the results of the election to be respected.

"If indeed Tsvangirai has been elected, that's fine. And if there's a runoff, that's fine," Mbeki said in Pretoria, according to news reports. "That is a matter we must await."