South African President Thabo Mbeki said he does not rule out an early national election if he loses the race to lead the ruling ANC to the party's deputy president Jacob Zuma. "I have not thought about that one. We haven't got there yet. I don't know. It's possible, it's possible, yes indeed," he said in an interview with the Sunday Independent.
Mbeki has lost substantial ground to Zuma in the race. The ANC will choose a new leader at a party conference on December 16-20, and if Zuma wins, he is almost certain to become South Africa's next president in elections due in 2009.
Asked what could lead him to call an early poll, Mbeki said: "It's a matter that needs to be discussed by the ANC. It's not a personal matter. The ANC is the government ... so I think it would be the ANC that considers a matter like that."
A Zuma win might result in his supporters trying to control government policies, leaving Mbeki vulnerable to early elections or a no-confidence vote in parliament, analysts say.
Mbeki rejected suggestions that he would be a lame duck president if Zuma won the ANC contest, saying current ANC policies would continue.
"So whoever is in government would have to implement ANC policies and that is what would happen," Mbeki said. "I believe these policies remain correct, so it is critically important that, at all times, as members of the ANC, we defend these policy positions and don't get them compromised ... by leadership contests in the ANC."
Analysts say Mbeki, who is not allowed to run for re-election as state president, wants to remain head of the ANC to influence the country's politics and help pick his successor.
The party goes into the December conference deeply split over Mbeki's policies. Mbeki has helped sustain an economic boom but critics say he has promoted a culture of cronyism and used state institutions to purge opponents. He denies this.
The rivalry between Mbeki and Zuma has plunged the party into one of the worst crises in its history and overshadowed efforts to fight crime, AIDS and poverty.
Zuma was South Africa's deputy president for six years before Mbeki sacked him in 2005 after he was implicated in a graft trial.
That case was thrown out on a technicality but a court ruling earlier this month allowed prosecutors to recharge Zuma. He was acquitted of rape charges in a separate case.
Despite controversy that has hurt his reputation, Zuma has made a dramatic comeback, maintaining wide support from the powerful trade unions, who accuse Mbeki of helping big business and neglecting the poor. But the graft case, involving kickbacks for an arms deal, still hangs over him. Mbeki said personal ambition should not influence the race to lead the ANC. "It might be normal elsewhere, but I think in terms of the ANC it will introduce a culture and practice that I think will be extremely unhealthy."
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