In This Article
Subscribe to International Updates
Post-Election Zimbabwe Unravels, Things Could Get Worse
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Unrest continues as Mugabe’s recount further delays the announcement of the election results. Amid reports of violence, opposition leader Tsvangirai is said to have fled the country.
30-Second Summary
Opposition party Movement for Democratic Change has stated that it will not accept results of the recount or accept a runoff vote against Mugabe.
The MDC has maintained since the March 29 elections that its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, rightfully won the race for the presidency.
But Mugabe, who has run the country for 28 years, contests that claim.
Some analysts worry that the power struggle could incite violence in the troubled country, or that it already has. And Tsvangirai has fled the country to escape reprisals, according to The Christian Science Monitor.
In a new report, Human Rights Watch said that Mugabe’s party, the ZANU-PF, “is using a network of informal detention centers to beat, torture, and intimidate opposition activists and ordinary Zimbabweans.”
Tendai Biti, the MDC’s secretary general, has said Zimbabwe now resembles a “war zone,” with thousands of people displaced and 10 killed in post-election violence.
And in a public statement U.K. Foreign Secretary David Milliband said on Monday that Mugabe is trying to “steal the election.”
"Most worryingly, President Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party have unleashed a campaign of violence against those ordinary Zimbabweans, 60 percent of them, who in spite of everything, voted against him,” he said.
Watch Biti declare that the country is in a state of “undeclared war” on The BBC.
The MDC has maintained since the March 29 elections that its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, rightfully won the race for the presidency.
But Mugabe, who has run the country for 28 years, contests that claim.
Some analysts worry that the power struggle could incite violence in the troubled country, or that it already has. And Tsvangirai has fled the country to escape reprisals, according to The Christian Science Monitor.
In a new report, Human Rights Watch said that Mugabe’s party, the ZANU-PF, “is using a network of informal detention centers to beat, torture, and intimidate opposition activists and ordinary Zimbabweans.”
Tendai Biti, the MDC’s secretary general, has said Zimbabwe now resembles a “war zone,” with thousands of people displaced and 10 killed in post-election violence.
And in a public statement U.K. Foreign Secretary David Milliband said on Monday that Mugabe is trying to “steal the election.”
"Most worryingly, President Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party have unleashed a campaign of violence against those ordinary Zimbabweans, 60 percent of them, who in spite of everything, voted against him,” he said.
Watch Biti declare that the country is in a state of “undeclared war” on The BBC.
Headline Link: The recount continues
As President Mugabe’s handpicked Zimbabwe Electoral Commission recounts votes in 23 constituencies, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has fled the country in fear for his life, reports The Christian Science Monitor.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
Analysis: The deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe
Witnesses have reportedly told Human Rights Watch that the ZANU-PF party has set up detention centers in opposition constituencies where political opponents are beaten. Several people said they had been held at the “torture camps” for up to three days, and were interrogated about MDC leaders, funding and the location of other MDC supporters, according to the report.
Source: Human Rights Watch
"It is clear the dictatorship will do everything to try to reverse the people's victory. Mugabe can delay ... but he will go,” said Biti. The MDC has issued a list of its supporters who they say have been injured or killed in the weeks following the election.
Source: The Zimbabwe Guardian
Milliband said that the “ludicrously slow rate” at which the recount is being conducted suggests that Mugabe “is seeking to reverse the results,” and that no one can possibly trust the final results.
Source: The BBC
Opinion: ‘Doing Nothing to Stop Him’
The rest of the world is standing by idly as the Zimbabwe disaster grows worse, writes Jeff Jacoby of The Boston Globe. “Not for the first time, Mugabe is viciously stealing an election, and not for the first time, the international community is doing nothing to stop him. Particularly feckless has been South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki. More than any other regional leader, he could exert the leverage to force Mugabe to abide by the voters' decision. He has refused to do so.”
Source: The Boston Globe
Background: The March 29 election
Results from the national election commission showed an MDC parliamentary victory, with the main opposition securing 105 seats of the 210-seat legislature. An independent organization tallying the vote reported that Tsvangirai had 50.3 percent of the vote over Mugabe’s 42.9 percent. But Mugabe did not concede defeat.
Source: findingDulcinea
An opinion poll preceding the March 29 election gave opposition Tsvangirai 28 percent of the vote, Mugabe 20 percent and Simba Makoni, a former Mugabe ally running as an independent, 9 percent. Few, if any, analysts, predicted a free and fair election.
Source: findingDulcinea
Reference: Zimbabwe election results
The Zimbabwe Independent Election Results Centre, which is run by nongovernmental authorities, has the latest election results. Polling figures are broken down by party and by constituency.
Source: Zimbabwe Independent Election Results Centre
Most Recent Beyond The Headlines
© 2012 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
