Zimbabweans go to the polls on Saturday with long-ruling President Robert Mugabe battling for survival in the tightest contest since independence from Britain in 1980.
The 84-year-old, Africa's oldest head of state, is trying to see off former finance minister Simba Makoni and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai against a backdrop of an economic meltdown and isolation from the West.
The only man to have led the former colony of Rhodesia since independence has shown during the campaign his appetite for power remains unsatiated after previously indicating his current term would be his last.
PHOTO: AFP
"Let the people's voice thunder across the whole country ... rejecting and damning once and for all the bootlicking British stooges, the traitors and sellouts, the political witches and political prostitutes, political charlatans and the two-headed political creatures," he told a recent rally.
But despite his bravado, analysts say a straight win is not guaranteed for a man presiding over the world's highest inflation rate and a ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), whose splits have been highlighted by Makoni's decision to break ranks.
"For the first time, Mugabe will not get an outright win," Harare-based political commentator Bill Said said.
"There is discontent everywhere and divisions in ZANU-PF as some begin to see sense in Makoni's defection. Mugabe will obviously lose a lot of votes to Makoni and this time around, even his traditional rural strongholds will not be a walkover for him," he said. "It might be the dawn of the end for Mugabe."
The campaign for the joint parliamentary and presidential polls has been free of the bloodshed that claimed dozens of lives in the build-up to ballots in 2000 and 2002.
But his opponents complain the president has not allowed a level playing field, with security chiefs vowing to never allow anyone other than Mugabe to rule.
Once a regional breadbasket, Zimbabwe's economic malaise since the last elections has led to widespread shortages of even basic foodstuffs such as cooking oil and bread. Unemployment stands at more than 80 percent.
Up to 4 million Zimbabweans have left for greener pastures, mostly to South Africa, whose government has refused to criticize its neighbor.
Symptoms of the crisis are more pronounced in cities where residents can go for weeks without running water, electricity supplies are erratic and refuse piles up in the streets.
Drivers lucky enough to obtain gasoline often have to dodge potholes described by Makoni as "large enough to swallow an entire freight truck."
Makoni, once one of Mugabe's top lieutenants until he quit the government in 2003, says the state of the nation was a result of failure of leadership.
"Shops are full of dust because there is nothing on the shelves. Factories are working less than eight hours a day and workers have been reduced to vendors," he said. "We are living in darkness yet we had enough power for the whole country. Where did it all go?"
Mugabe has acknowledged Zimbabweans face hardships, but blames the West.
The EU and the US imposed sanctions against Mugabe and his inner circle after determining he rigged his 2002 re-election. The sanctions, which include a freeze on bank accounts, are designed to avoid hitting the population as a whole.
The Movement for Democratic Change party of Tsvangirai -- runner-up in 2002 -- says Mugabe is again trying to steal votes, citing an electoral roll it argues is stuffed with phantom voters.
Tsvangirai, a former union leader, had previously vowed to boycott elections, but eventually decided to enter as head of a party which has also been hit by splits.
"The economy has been destroyed to such an extent that we need to start afresh. Zimbabwe is one of the world's great humanitarian crises," he said.
Western states have been barred from sending observers, although teams from China and Iran have been invited.
Some 5.9 million voters are eligible to cast ballots at 9,000 polling stations, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television