These are testing times for stalwarts of Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party as they try to safeguard their future. For four febrile weeks, as the authorities have delayed the release of the March 29 election results, there have been mounting suspicions at home and abroad that President Robert Mugabe was trying to “fix” the figures to ensure he stayed in power.

Yet as results have at last started to trickle out, it has become clear that the regime lacked either the will or the means to overturn evidence that Mr Mugabe and Zanu- PF were defeated by Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change.