Zimbabwe Elections

[Meso]

Not sure how many care (I do),but as far as evil dictators they don't come much worse than Robert Mugabe.And it appears now he may be done for finally,and Zimbabwe can start a very long and difficult journey of bringing some economical and social development back.

Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change on Wednesday declared its leader Morgan Tsvangirai the rightful winner of a presidential election, based on its own tally of the weekend polls.

The party's secretary-general Tendai Biti said Tsvangirai had won 50.3% and President Robert Mugabe had won 43.8%.

"That means he (Tsvangirai) is above the 50% threshold needed to avoid a run-off," Biti told reporters.

"Put simply he has won this election ... Morgan Richard Tsvangirai is the next president of the Republic of Zimbabwe, without a run-off."

While there is still no official word I think,it's been made pretty clear that Mugabe is going to step down without a fight,with rumours that he has already gone into possible exile.Either way,him off the presidency is great for Africa and the people of Zimbabwe

[HURAKAN]

Everyone should care! Everyone in the world deserves to be correctly representated by their government and should be able to have a prosper and good life as long you work for it. Some government tie people to their social status or make rich people poor while they get rich.

[gtalum]

It will be interesting to see how Mugabe reacts. I hope this puts the brakes on the ~100,000%+ inflation in Zimbabwe.

[coriolis]

Let's hope that the transition is made peacefully. The world needs some good news.

[HurricaneBill]

Mugabe pretty much destroyed Zimbabwe.

[gtalum]

Apparently foreign journalists are being rounded up by Zimbabwe police. I guess ol' Bob doesn't plan to give up without as fight.

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

Mugabe is a true autocratic dictator. The only way I think he'll leave office, regardless of what the people of Zimbabwe want, is when they carry him out in a pine box. When this happens he'll have leave behind a country with so many major problems, and a government so fractured and weak, that I seriously fear for Zimbabwe's long term future. As bad as things are now, Zimbabwe could totally disintegrate shortly after that day comes.

[Meso]

Yeah,he has apparently begun a crackdown arresting and raiding the opposition party.America wants to bring democracy to a country? I think Zimbabwe is one of the only,if not the only one that truely needs it.Although last thing I need to be border a country at war.Whether it be a civil war or not. I don't get why no one has been able to assassinate him yet.Although his security forces are all backing up

[Meso]

Now things seem to be getting more heated with the leader of the MDC backing out of the run-off election due to violence from the leading party on the MDC and it's supporters.Which would leave the dictator Robert Mugabe in power once again.Question is will international governments try to help,a real crisis with a far worse dictator than any other seen in ages,running a regime that is bent on doing whatever it takes to retain power, including murder.

And if another country plans on intervening how will they do it, as Robert Mugabe is not one who will negotiate and will probably just call for more hate against the 'west'.And I'm far too close to Zimbabwe to want a war there,the 10 million immigrants here now are bad enough, war would cause even more of an influx over a poorly secured border.

[HurricaneBill]

They say money is the root of all evil. Looking at the situations in Zimbabwe and Myanmar, I'm beginning to wonder if it's actually power.

[wyq614]

Which is the root of all evil? Money or power? I'd like to say BOTH.

Zimbabwe needs a change now, Mugabe has told us how to destroy economically a previously stable country and how to persecute political rivals. The current situation of Zimbabwe reminds me of the economic situation of China in July, 1949, when people carry a big box of cash only to buy some matches, and KMT soon lost the power.

China seems to remain close to Mugabe, which will be a strategical mistake. Although MDC has withdrawn from election, I think the ouster of Mugabe from power is just a matter of time, so I fear that China may then lose the trust of the new Zimbabwe.

As for Myanmar, it has been misled by its junta for a long time. It also needs a change in order to get a brighter future. If you can understand Chinese characters and log on to the Chinese typhoon forum, you can see that, despite the fact that Chinese government maintains a cose relationship with its Burmese counterpart, in the thread about the Cyclone Nargis, nearly all were cursing the Junta.

[Meso]

South Africa has also made the mistake (well our government has) of backing Mugabe in the past, right up until a few days ago they had kept quiet about the situation always making sure that they implied that it needed a change but at the same way not bad-talking Mugabe (A strategic move to keep all parties fairly happy).. But yesterday there was a government statement issues here where members stated how dire the crisis is and that a fair election is impossible