Controversy surrounds Zimbabwe elections
Adriaan Hilbers
Washington International School
When Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) fought for independence in its famous 1980 war, Robert Mugabe emerged as a hero. Having led the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) through a hard but successful struggle to gain independence for Zimbabwe, he was made the first prime minister, staying in this post for seven years and then running for president, winning the elections, in part, due to his image as a war hero. Since 1987, Robert Mugabe has led the nation, but his time in power has made Zimbabwe one of the poorest countries in the world, and Mugabe is considered by many to be dictator.
His strict, almost dictatorial rule caused many repercussions, especially from the western world. Travel bans have been levied on him by the European Union and the United States. UN inspectors considered the elections run during his time unfair on multiple occasions.
Despite this, since his days as prime minister in 1980-1987 and as president thereafter, he has never left office. More than 20 years later, it can not be said he has brought Zimbabwe peace and prosperity.
Parade Magazine releases its “The World’s Ten Worst Dictators” list every year. He frequents the list, and has been in the top 10 since 2004. But why is he considered a dictator? According to Parade, a “dictator is a head of state who exercises arbitrary authority over the lives of his citizens, [and] who cannot be removed from power through legal means.” In this case, it does apply to Mugabe.
Under his rule, the health of the average Zimbabwean has decreased dramatically. Average life expectancy is fewer than 36 years and the number of orphans is the highest in the world, at more than 25% of children. Eighty percent of working-class people are unemployed, according to the IMF and CIA.
To make matters worse, inflation is at a record high of 165,000%. Being a millionaire or a billionaire is necessary merely to survive. For short term relief, the government has released a new $50,000,000 Zimbabwean dollar bill. Protestors around the country parade around with photos saying: “Starving Billionaire.”
With the elections of 2008, it appeared Mugabe was going to lose. Csmonitor.com said there were multiple scandals in which he gave money and cars to medical and military personnel and randomly gave cars, tractors and computers to poor people so that they would vote for him. He also made more polling stations, but in specific areas. In the rural areas, where Mugabe’s party ZANU-PF is considered stronger, more polling stations were sited. In urban areas, there were multiple complaints that there were not enough of them.
Despite the fact that many people thought the elections were rigged, Mugabe denied this. “We are not in the habit of cheating. We don’t rig elections,” he said. He claimed his conscience would not have let him sleep if he had rigged the ballots.
On March 29, voting began. The process was peaceful, and most international voting assessments considered them fair. By March 31, official results were still not released, but the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the party opposing Mugabe, claimed victory.
Because there were elections for four important political positions at the same time, Zimbabwean officials blamed the delay on their ballot counters being overworked. Other countries found this delay “concerning.” British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (in other words, foreign minister) David Miliband urged the immediate release of the results.
Unofficial predictions conflicted, but most projected a loss by Mugabe. He, however, refused to leave office without official outcomes. Frustrations grew as time passed. Some crackdowns, apparently ordered by Mugabe, took place, including a raid and break-in of the opposing party’s hotel. Some foreign journalists were arrested.
In Zimbabwe, it is the law that first-round election results must be released within 21 days so that the second round can begin, but an extension was necessary. When there was an official court case disputing the delay, the MDC lawyers were barred from entering. As the electoral committee had still not released results, the people of Zimbabwe were growing increasingly anxious. The committee moved its headquarters but did not release any statistics. The MDC made a plea to the western world to sort out the crisis that was emerging and to remove Mugabe, as it became increasingly apparent
he had lost the elections. They also claimed that Mugabe would use violence to keep himself in power.
Mugabe blamed the electoral committee of tilting results in favor of the opposing parties and had some of them arrested. More and more violence emerged, including the raiding of some white-owned farms, and many whites left the country.
In Harare, the capital, the violence continued. There were stories and gruesome pictures released of men seriously beaten, and allegedly tortured with burning plastic and shot with guns in Harare Newscast. Evidence of more than 7,000 beating deaths have emerged. The main opposition leader of the MDC was beaten so badly he was taken into a hospital with a case of internal bleeding, according to MSNBC. Finally, an official release of the results on May 2 showed a loss by Mugabe, but he has still refused to leave office.
July 1st, 2008 at 12:22 pm
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