Zimbabwe Leader Loses Poll

Longtime ruler Robert Mugabe suffered his first major electoral defeat when Zimbabweans rejected a new constitution that would have entrenched his power after two decades of virtually unchallenged rule.

Voters rejected constitutional changes by 55 percent to 45 percent, according to final results released Tuesday, chief elections officer Tobaiwa Mudede said.

The referendum would have allowed Mugabe to retain most of his powers, despite calls to step down, and to permit the government to seize land owned by white descendants of British settlers without paying compensation.

"The 'No's' have it," Mudede said. The final official tally from 120 polling districts showed 697,754 "no" votes against 578,210 "yes" votes.

The result was an indication of Mugabe's waning popularity as the nation faces its worst economic crisis since independence from British colonial rule in 1980 and could be a harbinger of things to come in parliamentary elections in early April.

Mugabe's party has dominated past elections, winning landslide victories in every vote since independence. It holds all but three seats in the 150-member Parliament.

But Mugabe, 75, has faced growing criticism at home and from Western nations for his autocratic rule. Economic hardships worsened sharply after he deployed 11,000 troops to support embattled President Laurent Kabila in the Congo civil war.

The International Monetary Fund froze aid to Zimbabwe last year, citing unexplained military expenses in the Congo while government spending on health, education and social services declined.

Urban voters went mostly against Mugabe, while the president drew support from rural areas. Mugabe's largest defeat came in central Harare, where 16,882 voters rejected adoption of the new constitution and 4,821 favored it.

Raising fears of tampering, independent monitors said they could reach only about two-thirds of voting stations because of the late announcement on Friday by the state elections committee of voting locations.

The National Constitutional Assembly, an alliance of political opposition groups and civic and church organizations opposed to the amended constitution, welcomed signs earlier today that the referendum was headed for defeat.

"People have stood up and said 'No' to what is happening in this country. A 'No' vote will carry the day if there's no rigging," said alliance head Thoko Matshe.

Matshe said her group's monitors reported numerous cases of irregularities by election officials during the voting. Monitors were barred from some polling stations and others were prevented from guarding ballot boxes overnight or when boxes were transported to counting centers.

In a second blow to Mugabe Tuesday, Harare magistrate Remigias Jema threw out allegations a key opposition leader and eight supporters campaigned illegally during the polling.

Jema freed Tendai Biti, an officil of the Movement for Democratic Change, and his group of supporters after two days in jail.

During polling Saturday, lines for scarce kerosene, used by the poor for cooking, lighting and heating, were longer than those at polling booths. Shortages of gasoline and power blamed on economic mismanagement by the government have crippled transport, agriculture and industry in recent months. Inflation and unemployment have soared to record levels.

By Angus Shaw
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