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Presidential elections were held March 29 between President
Mugabe and his long-time opponent Morgan Tsvangirai but electoral
officials have not yet released the results.
Election problems
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Unofficial election results show that labor leader Morgan
Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe, but not enough to avoid an election runoff. |
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Mr. Tsvangirai, a labor
leader who heads the opposition party Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), claimed he won the election outright and called
on the international community to help ensure a peaceful transition
of power.
"This is also a time for firm diplomacy. Major powers
here, such as South Africa, the U.S. and Britain, must act
to remove the white-knuckle grip of Mugabe's suicidal reign
and oblige him and his minions to retire," Tsvangirai
wrote in an opinion piece published in the British newspaper
The Guardian.
Mugabe, who heads the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic
Front (ZANU-PF) party, delayed the release of the election
results claiming "revelations of errors and miscalculations
in the compilation of the poll result," according to
the state-run Sunday Mail newspaper.
Unofficial results show that Tsvangirai won more votes than
Mugabe but not the necessary majority required to avoid a
runoff vote. Many observers believe that it is unlikely that
Mugabe could win a fair runoff election.
"You know, Mugabe is a very proud man. And many people
say that he would just refuse to go into a runoff. It would
be beneath his dignity and hurt his pride," National
Public Radio reporter Charlayne Hunter-Gault told the NewsHour.
Zimbabwe under Mugabe's rule
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A man searches for food in a pile of trash in Zimbabwe,
where inflation and government policies have crippled
the economy. |
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President Mugabe has ruled
Zimbabwe since the colony formerly known as Rhodesia gained
its independence from Great Britain in 1980. He was the country's
first prime minister and considered a hero of his country's
struggle for independence.
Since then Mugabe has used violence to control his political
opponents.
In 2000, Mugabe began a land redistribution program and seized
white-owned farms. But instead of giving these farms to the
poor, Mugabe often gave them to his cronies and supporters.
These new owners were unprepared to run the farms and Zimbabwe's
economy has plummeted. Inflation is running at an annual 100,000
percent and four out of five people are unemployed. There
are chronic food and fuel shortages.
In addition, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has ravaged Zimbabwe's
people. The life expectancy for women in Zimbabwe is 34 years.
For men it is 37, according to the World Health Organization.
The situation is dire for children, too: for every 1,000
children born, on average, 129 boys and girls don't live to
age five. In contrast, in the United States the life expectancy
of men is 75 years and 80 years for women. The average number
of children who die before age five is eight per 1,000.
Election results
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Robert Mugabe, in power since 1980, is calling for a vote recount. |
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On Monday, Zimbabwe's
High Court again postponed a decision to release the election
results, rejecting a Zimbabwe Electoral Commission argument
that it did not have jurisdiction over the release of results.
According to election law, a runoff election must be held
within three weeks of the release of election results. Mugabe
has also called for a recount of the votes already cast.
By postponing the release of results, many election observers
believe Mugabe is trying to gain time to mount what could
become a violent crackdown and denial of the election's outcome.
The opposition MDC party is criticizing Mugabe's stalling
tactics.
"You can't ask for the remarking of an exam whose result
is not known by the student," Nelson Chamisa, spokesman
for the MDC told The New York Times. "It shows their
mischief and shenanigans in trying to manipulate the poll."
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American schools and financial aid should be only for legal citizens of the United States. There should be no exceptions to this.
