Tsvangirai Pulls Out of Zim Election; Mugabe Automatically Wins Re-Election

Due to the unmitigated violence being visited upon the people of Zimbabwe by Robert Mugabe's regime in an attempt to steal the Presidential runoff election that had been scheduled for this coming Friday, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has opted to drop out of the race for fear that voting for him could cost many Zimbabweans their lives. "We in the MDC cannot ask them to cast their vote on the 27th when that vote could cost them their lives," he said. "We will not play the game of Mugabe." (Read Tsvangirai's full statement.) This decision effectively hands Mugabe another term as President; a position that gives him the power to dissolve the legislature in which the MDC had won a majority for the first time ever. So, Mugabe may also be able to steal the legislative victory from MDC as well as the Presidency. Mugabe's forces have already violently cracked down on areas that showed strong support for MDC and the voter intimidation was expected to carry on with Mugabe supporters even going into the voting booths with people to ensure their vote for the incumbent. Tsvangirai has asked for the U.N. to step in and help ensure a free and fair election. (As I have said before, this is unlikely given the fact that China is so close to the Mugabe regime and they favor the stability of Pro-China regimes over any other concern. Plus, the U.N. is a bunch of toothless hypocrites. Prove me wrong, U.N., Prove me wrong.) I am at a complete loss as to what comes next. Whatever it is, it can't be good. Pray.