2 posts tagged “election”

The story run in the guardian.......... 'Investigators believe the scam was set to take place in South America, where expatriate Italians handed in their votes to Italian consulates last week. Aldo Micciche, a businessman who moved to Venezuela after being convicted of fraudulent bankruptcy in Italy is suspected of planning with the Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta to fill in 50,000 blank ballot slips obtained from corrupt officials, Corriere della Sera wrote yesterday. Micciche denied the allegations. The Interior Minister, Giuliano Amato, confirmed he had been alerted by investigators in Reggio Calabria, capital of the Calabria region, about possible electoral fraud in South America. He added that controls had been tightened.' - full story at - www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/13/italy

Robert Mugabe was desperately trying to cling to power last night by blocking the electoral commission from releasing official results and threatening to treat an opposition claim of victory as a coup. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change [MDC] said that what it regards as the overwhelming win by its candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, is "under threat" despite growing support from foreign monitors for its claim of victory. The party also said it had "security concerns" after a police raid on its election offices yesterday. Tsvangirai made no public appearances, apparently out of concern for his safety.

Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba, warned Tsvangirai not to declare himself president because that "is called a coup d'etat and we all know how coups are handled". Sources close to the MDC said the party leadership had put out feelers to the military and elements of the ruling Zanu-PF to try to arrange a peaceful transfer of power. - [source - gaurdian] full story at www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/31/zimbabwe1