Old war horse Robert Mugabe has done it again, thus proving true the old saying that old soldier never dies. The road was paved for a possible life presidency for the 89-year-old veteran when he was last night declared winner of the July 31 presidential election in Zimbabwe by the country’s electoral commission.

Results announced by the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) indicated that Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, won another five-year term, defeating his main challenger, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, with 61 per cent of the vote. The routing of Tsvangirai effectively ends the unity government formed by the two bitter rivals in 2009 to end the violence that trailed the 2008 ballot.

Tsvangirai, who came close to being President but couldn’t win an outright majority in that election, eventually boycotting the run-off, could only manage to garner 33 per cent of the vote this time.

Rejecting the result announced last night by ZEC, the MDC leader told a news conference at his house: “This fraudulent and stolen election has plunged Zimbabwe into a constitutional, political and economic crisis.” He demanded that a new election be held so that Zimbabweans could “freely and fairly elect a government of their choice” — a step that a spokesman for Mr. Mugabe’s party, ZANU-PF, quickly rejected.

International observers say the election was free and fair but Tsvangirai and his MDC, as well as some local monitors insist the process was flawed.

•Photo: Old war horse Mugabe has done it again.