Zimbabwe

Presidential poll today, Mugabe sole candidate

Article published on the 2008-06-27 Latest update 2008-06-27 10:49 TU

A Zimbabwean voter
(Photo: Reuters)

The people of Zimbabwe vote today in a run-off presidential election in which Robert Mugabe is the only candidate. The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who won the first round of the election on 29 March, last Sunday withdrew from the run-off poll because of widely-reported campaign violence and alleged intimidation of his supporters.

"Today is not an election," Tsvangirai wrote in a letter to his supporters. "Today is a shameful humiliation, another tragic day in our nation's history." 

The MDC claims that 80 of its supporters have been killed and thousands injured, while Tsvangirai and other party officials have been arrested several times over.  

Voter turnout is so far low.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union had called on President Mugabe to postpone the election and negotiate with the opposition. Nigeria, the most populated country in Africa, joining neighbouring African and western countries in expressing its concern Thursday in the light of the opposition boycott.

Meanwhile, the Group of Eight leading nations' foreign ministers, meeting in Japan, said Friday they would not accept Zimbabwe’s government as legitimate if it "does not reflect the will" of the people and condemned "systematic violence, obstruction and intimidation".

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States would consider what next step could be taken in the Security Council," branding Zimbabwe’s election "a sham".