"Chaotic" US vote no better than African vote, says Zimbabwe media

"The election will not be forgotten by students of politics, who had been made to think that the intrigue and allegations of irregularities are a monopoly of developing countries," said the daily Herald newspaper, which fiercely backs President Robert Mugabe's ZANU(PF) party. It dismissed Tuesday's election battle between Republican candidate George W. Bush and Democratic Party hopeful Al Gore as "chaotic." It quoted only unnamed "political analysts," which is accepted in the Zimbabwe capital Harare as code for a senior official in Mugabe's office. Mugabe's regime is still smarting from angry international reaction to parliamentary elections in June when election observers, including U.S. Democratic and Republican poll watchdogs, denounced rampant violence by ruling party thugs and declared that the vote was not free and fair. Monitors also slammed electoral authorities who barred independent monitors from polling booths, and the dominant state media's blatantly pro-ruling party propaganda. After the elections, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change filed court challenges to results in 38 out of 120 constituencies, claiming rigging and violence had bent the outcome in favour of ZANU(PF). The Herald Thursday cited a report of the discovery of a ballot box full of votes that was found in a Florida church. "The elections have proved we are all human," said the newspaper. It also referred to a judge in Missouri who overturned a ruling in a junior court to extend the hours of polling stations in the state. "This shows that the judges are partisan," said the Herald. "This whole talk about the rule of law has obviously a different meaning in America." "The Americans, who have been critical of African polling processes, have been having a hard time" explaining the electoral college system used in the presidential elections, it said. "Where is democracy if someone wins the popular vote and loses the elections?" demanded the paper. In the June elections, ZANU(PF) scraped to victory with 62 seats against the opposition's 58. However, it was secured a comfortable majority through a constitutional provision for Mugabe to appoint another 30 MPs.

(la/dpa)