Robert Mugabe was sworn in Sunday to a new term as Zimbabwe president and called for dialogue between the country's political parties after a one-man election widely denounced as illegitimate.After taking the oath of office from Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku at his State House residence, the 84-year-old leader issued an appeal for "unity." Indeed it is my hope that sooner rather than later, we shall as diverse political parties hold consultations towards such serious dialogue as will minimise our difference and enhance the area of unity and cooperation," Mugabe said.
The rapidly-convened ceremony was staged barely an hour after the electoral commission declared he won a total of 2,150,269 votes against 233,000 for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who boycotted the election but whose name still appeared on ballot papers.Turnout was announced at 42.37 percent, and 131,481 ballot papers were rejected, giving Mugabe more than 85 percent of the votes cast.
The victory declaration was derided as a "joke" by Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change which pulled out of the run-off last weekend after a wave of deadly attacks on its supporters. "This is an unbelievable joke and act of desperation on the part of the regime," MDC chief spokesman Nelson Chamisa told AFP. Chamisa also reacted cooly to the proposal for dialogue, saying it was hard to trust him given violence against MDC supporters."We don't seem to see a marriage between his good words and the ugly actions we are seeing on the ground... It's very difficult to trust him." No African heads of state were present for the inauguration, in stark contrast to his previous election victories. Mugabe is Africa's oldest head of state and has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980.
He was due to fly out of Harare after the ceremony, headed for an African Union summit in Egypt where his country's crisis was to feature high on the agenda. Mugabe was assured of a landslide victory after Tsvangirai pulled out of Friday's presidential run-off, saying rising violence had left nearly 90 MDC supporters dead and thousands injured. Tsvangirai won the first round on March 29 with 47.9 percent of the vote against 43.2 percent for Mugabe, just short of an outright majority.Defying international and regional calls for him to postpone the election, Mugabe pushed ahead with the vote anyway, warning against outside interference in his country's affairs and shrugging off Tsvangirai's claims of violence.
In final pre-poll rallies, Mugabe said thousands had been killed in other African elections but polls were held regardless. He also indicated he was open to talks with the opposition -- but only after Friday's vote. Tsvangirai remained on the ballot despite announcing he was pulling out a week ago, with electoral commission officials saying it was too late.
