Zimbabwean junta head honcho Robert Mugabe has slithered into a runoff election against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai

National Review, June 2, 2008

Zimbabwean junta head honcho Robert Mugabe has slithered into a runoff election against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai outpolled Mugabe in the presidential election, and it is quite likely that an honest count would have given him enough votes to preclude a runoff. Cynics observe that Tsvangirai must have overtaken Mugabe by a hefty margin for the latter to have condescended to a runoff.

Law required that the second round of voting be held within 21 days of the first, but Mugabe's minions have delayed, protesting that it could take up to a year to organize the runoff. Meanwhile, Tsvangirai has fled for his life to South Africa, and several of his colleagues, including trade unionists and a newly elected lawmaker, have been carried off into Mugabe's dungeons. The London Telegraph reports that Tsvangirai's supporters have been subjected to a retribution ritual called "the baptism of traitors," in which they are bound, beaten, and burned, often having their arms broken, while onlookers are advised by Mugabe's captains that a similar fate awaits all opposition supporters. Zimbabwe's failed national institutions are mirrored by failed international institutions: From the Southern African Development Community to the United Nations to the influential government of Thabo Mbeki in South Africa, not a finger has stirred in defense of Zimbabwe. The runoff election will therefore take place under conditions of Mugabe's choosing, and Zimbabwe will suffer for it.