TIMELINE: Aftermath of Zimbabwe's elections

Fri May 16, 2008 8:39am EDT
 
[-] Text [+]

(Reuters) - Zimbabwe said on Friday it would hold a delayed presidential election run-off on June 27 in which the opposition hopes to oust veteran leader Robert Mugabe.

Below is a chronology of key developments since the presidential, parliamentary and local elections on March 29.

March 30 - Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claims victory based on early results.

March 31 - Results of parliamentary ballot start to emerge. Regional observers say vote was fair but express concern over delay to results. Western countries also concerned at delay.

April 2 - Final parliamentary election results show ZANU-PF has lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence in 1980.

MDC says its leader Morgan Tsvangirai also won presidential election and calls on Mugabe to concede. State-owned paper The Herald says no candidate won an outright majority.

April 13 - Regional leaders at a summit in Zambia call for the rapid verification and release of poll results.

April 14 - High Court rejects an opposition request to force authorities to release the presidential election results.

April 15 - An opposition general strike to demand the release of results flops.

April 26 - Mugabe's party fails to reverse its parliamentary election defeat after a partial vote recount.

May 2 - Electoral body says Tsvangirai won most votes in the presidential election, but not enough to avoid a run-off against Mugabe. Opposition rejects the result.

May 10 - Tsvangirai says he will return home to contest the run-off even though he believes we won outright.

May 16 - Run-off is set for June 27.

 

Featured Broker sponsored link

Editor's Choice

A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours.   Slideshow 

Most Popular on Reuters

  • Articles
  • Video
Bernd Debusmann
America’s perennial Vietnam syndrome

History does not repeat itself, but the wartime struggles of President Obama in 2009 and President Johnson in 1963 are striking in their similarities. Does the ghost of Vietnam still hang over the White House?  Commentary