Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum CHAPTER SIX POLITICAL VIOLATIONS AFTER THE ELECTIONS Election Results In a total poll of 2 556 711 (50,6% of registered voters), the final result in the 120 contested constituencies was: Zanu-PF 62 seats from 1 206 203 votes (47,2%); MDC 57 seats from 1 171 163 votes (45,8%); ZANU 1 seat (Chipinge South) from 10 248 votes (in the lowest poll turnout: 36,8%). A mere 35 040 votes (roughly one of the smaller constituencies) separated Zanu-PF and the MDC, despite the massive violence. All the Independents and other small parties failed in what was seen as a showdown between ZanuPF and its first serious challenger. Women and its executive were Zanu-PF's major casualties. The number of female MPs was cut by half, from 21 in the outgoing Parliament to 13. Seven of the women MPs belonged to the MDC. Eight full and deputy ministers (including three women), four of Zanu-PF’s provincial chairmen, and all its Women's League executives lost their seats. The nine-month-old MDC contested all 120 constituencies, but was prevented from campaigning in three-quarters of all constituencies. It lost no deposits, polling above the 5% cut-off in all contests, even in the Zanu-PF heartland around the north-eastern border. While the MDC did best in the towns, taking 77% of the urban vote, it also made deep inroads (40%) into the rural constituencies, especially in Matabeleland and Manicaland. In seven constituencies it polled less than 10% of the total votes: Mutoko South (5.4%), Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe (6.8%) and Mudzi (7.5%) in Mashonaland East province; the newly-split Mount Darwin (East and West) seats (8.3 and 8.7% respectively) and Guruve North (9.8%) in Mashonaland Central; and Mwenezi (6.4%) in Masvingo province. It won two-thirds or more of the total vote in 36 contests, 30 of them urban. There were significant levels of violence in 10 of these constituencies. Eight others experienced mostly light retributive violence after the results were known. Zanu-PF polled over 10% of the vote in all constituencies, but two-thirds or more of the vote in only 30, of which 10 experienced very high levels of pre-election violence and none suffered significant retributive violence after the election. All 30 were rural constituencies, only two (in Masvingo) not being located in the three Mashonaland provinces or the Midlands. The rural-urban split between Zanu-PF and the MDC merely heightened the significance of the massive revolt against Zanu-PF in Harare and most other towns to the south of it. There was a wide range of spoilt papers around the average of 2.5%, ostensibly from 0% in Chiredzi South to 7.8% in Zaka West. Urban voters spoilt fewer ballot papers. Of 45 constituencies which recorded spoilt paper rates of less than 2%, only eight were rural. However, among the 10 constituencies with the highest rates of spoilt papers were three of the six which recorded the highest levels of political violence: Mudzi (ranking fourth, with 4.4% of papers spoilt); Mberengwa East (ranking third, with 4.5%); Mazowe West ( ranking sixth, with 4.6%). While spoilt papers are often taken as a proxy measure of voter incompetence and lack of education, in the past in Zimbabwe high rates have marked voter protest. It is also possible, in those constituencies with high rates of violence, that they may have flagged voter fear and/or confusion in the 2000 general election. Zanu-PF lost its first MP to a motor accident three weeks after Parliament convened. There was an 32