The World

Presidential election in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s longtime president Robert Mugabe is up for re-election on Saturday and he’s expected to win again, even though the country is in freefall, as Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Harare-based journalist Peta Thorneycraft.

Global Politics

(Mugabe’s government has often been charged with enormous corruption but now there are allegations that Mugabe has planned to suspiciously rig the vote.) The opposition was talking about this openly. One candidate went around from house to house there were a minimum of two dead voters registered to each house. (What does that for a free and fair election?) it means it’s easy to rig. During the last election, they just announce the results, they don’t check with anyone, they just announce them. So there’s no way of checking if those are real results. (Is there any doubt that anyone but Mugabe will win, rigged election or not?) No, there’s not much doubt. (What’s at stake in this election?) If Mugabe wins the election the misery will continue. If the opposition wins, Mugabe might kill the opposition leader. If there was a free and fair vote, Mugabe would stop that.