By SPA
Washington : The United States on Thursday criticized calls by some officials close to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to organize a second round of presidential voting.
“I think we need to see the results come out, but it is concerning to us that we have not seen any presidential results reported yet,” State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.
“This is not only because of the somewhat politicized composition of the Zimbabwean electoral commission but also again because of the things … that we saw prior to the elections. That certainly raised concerns about the possibility of some kind of chicanery, or some kind of efforts to manipulate the balloting,” Casey said.
Casey said independent sources say the votes won by main opposition figure Morgan Tsvangirai were “right at or near that range” of 50 percent.
State media in Harare said a run-off vote was now the most likely outcome after no clear winner emerged from Saturday’s election, and a government spokesman said Mugabe’s political party was ready for a new battle in the second round.