More on Zimbabwe elections

Mugabe predicts an "overwhelming victory" as it were...what else do we usually hear from defiant dictators? The majority of Zimbabweans surely are sick of this man; I don't see how there is any way a fair election could turn out in his favor. He simply has too much stacked against him. His so-called "land reform" has only done more harm than good by putting vital farmland in the hands of his party bosses who can't tell the front end of an ox from its rear.

However, there are still a good number of major obstacles the Zimbabwean people must overcome to make this work. Going to the polls over there is quite different from over here (maybe with the exception of Broward County). Mugabe still controls the press and has the entire internal security force working directly under his payroll.

While political violence has been sharply lower in this campaign than in the 2000 and 2002 elections, the MDC charges that its supporters have been intimidated this year.

They also say tough security and media laws will skew the vote in favor of Mugabe's ZANU-PF.

You don't say?

The question of observers is another issue worth looking at. This is truly what may steer this election in favor of Mugabe yet again. South Africa, one of the major countries that is sponsoring observers, clearly does not wish to see Mugabe leave for one reason or another. The Guardian Unlimited reports:

In the absence of observer missions from the Commonwealth or the EU, the responsibility for passing judgment on Zimbabwe's elections rests with observers from South Africa and the Southern Africa Development Community, the 13-nation regional group.

South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, is conscious that Mr Mugabe backed the ANC during the anti-apartheid struggle, and that in the eyes of land-hungry rural black people in South Africa Zimbabwe's president is a hero.

Before the vote, Mr Mbeki and the leader of his observer mission made comments suggesting they had already made up their minds that the election would be free and fair.

"The reports of the use of food to buy votes and to deny opposition supporters state food should be investigated by observers," said John Makumbe, a lecturer in political science at the University of Zimbabwe. "It is disappointing to see South African and SADC observer missions say that everything seems fine. They seem to be quite desperate to see Mugabe stay in power."

So basically, to the South African government, it's not so much what Mugabe is doing now, it's what he did back in the day for anti-apartheid? So that makes it okay for him to stay on for another couple of years and kill thousands of his people? Weak.