Mr President, in this seriously flawed presidential election, we have good grounds for believing that Mugabe in reality lost the vote, but merely contrived to win the count. He will now be able to have his foot on the neck of the Zimbabwean people for another six years. It represents a new low for democracy in Zimbabwe and a disaster not just for Zimbabwe, but for the whole of Southern Africa. Mugabe personifies all the most negative strains in African development: corrupt and authoritarian power with state leaders lining their pockets at the expense of the people, racial division, the exploitation of envy, political violence and economic backwardness. Zimbabwe is a beautiful and once prosperous country with the potential to be the bread basket for the region. Instead, the economy is in chaos, with rampant inflation and unemployment and half a million of its people living on the edge of starvation, sustained only by world food aid. Mugabe's re-election will seriously exacerbate all of these problems. I have to say that Mugabe realised that his game might be up some two years ago, ZANU-PF came close to losing the general election; and that is why for the past two years – not just the past two weeks – he has been trying to fix the political system in his favour by a systematic campaign of terror and intimidation against anyone who opposed him. This Parliament should pay tribute to Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC activists and all those who have had the courage to stand up to Mugabe for all this time. I have to say it is a pity that the international community took so long to wake up to the situation in Zimbabwe and that the European Union waited until the eleventh hour before imposing targeted sanctions. At least we in this Parliament can hold our heads up. We have been active throughout the last two years. The attitude of African countries has been particularly disappointing. We always felt that South Africa, in particular, held the key to restoring genuine democracy and the rule of law in Zimbabwe. However, South Africa's leaders were found wanting. They could not find it in their consciences to condemn what they perhaps saw as one of their liberation brothers. What a pity for the people of Zimbabwe – all the people of Zimbabwe. At least the Southern African Development Community election observer mission has felt able to recognise in its announcement yesterday that: 'the electoral process could not be said to adequately comply with the norms and standards for elections in the SADC region'. What they mean, I think, Mr President, is that the election was clearly rigged. Certainly, that is the opinion of the few other international observers that remained. How else do we explain, for instance, the bizarre declaration that turnout in the city areas loyal to Tsvangirai was low, while in the ZANU-PF rural strongholds, it was remarkably high? How else do we explain the missing ballot boxes which suddenly turn up stuffed up with Mugabe votes? The international community must maintain its resolve. It must not recognise the legitimacy of this election result. There must be an intensification of the hunt for looted assets held overseas by Mugabe and his cronies. There should be an extension of the EU blacklist, and we need to take further tough measures. South Africa must begin to show leadership and demonstrate that it is committed to democratic principles in the region. Our aim must be to help restore democracy, human rights and the rule of law to Zimbabwe and assist in the process of economic progress there. Our tough resolution today is a contribution to this, and I hope the Council and the Commission will listen to us. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE