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Morning Open Thread: Mugabe “Wins” in Zimbabwe |
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Running unopposed after forcing the challenger Morgan Tsvangirai from the race with state-sponsored political violence, dictator Robert Mugabe “won” all 10 provinces in Zimbabwe and was sworn in again as president.
Mugabe won 85.5 percent of the presidential runoff vote, against 9.3 percent cast for Tsvangirai, Chief Election Officer Lovemore Sekeramayi said in a telephone interview from Harare today. He didn’t say how many of the ballots were spoilt.
Tsvangirai, 56, won more votes than Mugabe in the first round on March 29, without gaining the 50 percent needed to avoid a rerun, according to state-appointed electoral officials. The MDC gained majorities in most of the nation’s city and district councils and forced the ruling Zimbabwe Africa National Union- Patriotic Front into a minority in parliament for the first time since 1980.
What, if anything, should the international community do about Zimbabwe? It’s hard to say. Military intervention should always be the option of last resort, and there are still a lot of other leverage points to try first. The UN has barely issued a statement against Mugabe, much less implemented sanctions or other pressures.
The trouble is, with the election over, the political will to do anything about the situation might evaporate until Mugabe’s term is up. Then again, perhaps if Zimbabweans continue to speak out, the issue will stay at the forefront of world affairs.
What is the right course of action for the international community? How should we solve situations like this? Is it even out business?
After the WMD argument fell apart, the Bush Administration tried to justify the war in Iraq by saying that we needed to remove a repressive dictator and free the Iraqi people.
By that logic, shouldn’t we be invading Zimbabwe right now?