TIMELINE: Aftermath of Zimbabwe's elections

Fri May 16, 2008 8:39am EDT
 
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(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.

 

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