Mugabe foe cites risk to backers, but election to proceed
Geoff Hill
Johannesburg - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will push ahead with Friday's election as the only candidate, all but ensuring that his 28-year rule will continue, his party said yesterday. The announcement followed a decision by opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai to withdraw from the election amid growing attacks on his supporters. Mr. Mugabe's Zanu PF confirmed Sunday night that the balloting would be held "as normal," with Mr. Mugabe as the sole choice for voters. "The constitution does not say that if somebody drops out or decides to chicken out the runoff will not be held," Zimbabwean Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said, according to news reports from Harare. Mr. Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC, announced his decision yesterday amid a growing campaign of attacks on MDC supporters by Mugabe loyalists. "We in the MDC cannot ask them to cast their vote on the 27th when that vote would cost them their lives," he told reporters in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. "We will no longer participate in the violent, illegitimate sham of an election process. We believe an election that reflects the will of the people is impossible," he said. The decision all but ensures that Mr. Mugabe will continue to rule Zimbabwe as he has since independence from Britain in 1980. In 1996, the now-deceased nationalist politician the Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole was forced to withdraw under similar circumstances. Mr. Mugabe insisted the election be held and afterward declared himself the winner. Mr. Sithole died in exile in Philadelphia in 2000.
On Sunday, opposition organizer Nkatazo Ncube described the anti-MDC effort that led to Mr. Tsvangirai's decision. "They beat people with sticks, clubs and axes as we tried to make our way to the stadium," Mr. Ncube said. "Some drivers were pulled from their cars and kicked to the ground, and I saw soldiers driving off with several of the vehicles." Another witness, Agnes Chitsomba, who had her left wrist broken when she was dragged through the rear window of a bus traveling to a stadium where Mr. Tsvangirai was to speak, said she and others were told they were to be killed for "supporting the devil." "I am 42, and the boys beating me must have been 18 years old, maybe 20. They kicked me in the stomach and spat in my face. They said they were going to kill me, but then they moved on to attack another bus, and I managed to get away," she said. Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change cited seven reasons for the decision to withdraw. Key among those were the assaults on, and in some cases, the killings of, opposition supporters and a blanket ban on MDC news and advertising in the media. The daily press was nationalized in 1981, and Mr Mugabe's government controls all radio and TV stations. Private broadcasting is prohibited.
The party also said that it had become impossible to campaign because police either arrested Mr. Tsvangirai when he arrived to address a meeting, or assaulted those trying to enter the venue. Despite the presence of election monitors from African countries, authorities have in the past week stepped up their efforts to sway voters, using a mixture of public beatings, killings and all-night rallies, at which people are forced to sing songs of praise for Mr. Mugabe. The wife of Harare's newly elected MDC mayor was abducted last week, and when her body was found Wednesday, her face was so badly fractured that her husband and brother identified her only by the clothes she was wearing. Human rights groups claim that some 85 activists and political supporters have been killed and thousands displaced from their homes by the violence. Mr. Tsvangirai said last night that he would put forward fresh proposals Wednesday in an effort to bring peace to the country, but did not elaborate. A close adviser said he would propose a transitional government and a fresh election in a year's time to be supervised by the African Union. In March, the MDC won a majority of parliamentary seats, making it impossible for Zanu PF to pass legislation. However, if Mr. Mugabe has himself inaugurated as president after Friday's election, he will the have the power to call a new parliamentary election. Opposition supporters fear he will use the current tactics to reverse the MDC's majority before the end of the year.
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