Morgan Tsvangirai, the Movement for Democratic Change leader who has challenged Robert Mugabe has withdrawn from the runoff election. Tsvangirai, who is widely believed to have won the 29 March elections, and who would likely have won in the 27 June runoff were they free and fair, has cited the widespread violence aimed at MDC supporters as his reason:
“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 Harare. “We will no longer participate in this violent, illegitimate sham of an election process.”He urged the United Nations, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community to intervene to prevent “genocide”, and said a free and fair election would be “impossible” in Zimbabwe.
The opposition chief said Mugabe had “declared war by saying that the bullet has replaced the ballot”, adding: “We believe an election that reflects the will of the people is impossible.”
It would represent the ultimate in armchair coaching to criticize Tsvangirai, who has so often been a victim of the Mugabe regime's thuggish, capricious, and ruthlessly authoritarian behavior. He knows better than anyone the costs of standing up to Mugabe and his henchmen. But I do wish Tsvangirai could have found a way to stay in the race, for this confirms Mugabe's tactics: Use enough violence and intimidation and corruption and you will win.
Perhaps Tsvangirai's withdrawal is a gambit by which he hopes to force the hand of SADC and the west. If so, it is a risky but potentially brilliant move. Nonetheless, if the runoff does not go on, if Tsvangirai remains out of the race, another sad chapter in Zimbabwe's sad history is being written without the prospect of a happy ending.
