"The West might not have accepted them as democratic but our own people definitely know we have done no cheating, never, ever. We are also Christian nation." Mr Mugabe ridiculed the suggestion by the MDC that in the countryside, village chiefs had been bribed to intimidate voters into voting for Zanu PF. "How do they intimidate the very citizens they rely upon for the respect they get?" he asked. "The rural areas have also lions and elephants. You might have mistaken them for chiefs." He called once more for the remaining sanctions imposed by the EU on him and his inner circle – blamed by Zanu PF for the majority of the country's woes – to be lifted, saying he had no other problem with the West.