Zimbabwe party backs Mugabe

LL says there’s been evidence all week that a run off is in the works. Government officials started speaking more openly about this possibility and today an official I spoke to said this was all but a certainty. There have been some reports that a faction of the ruling part have been thinking about replacing Mugabe with another candidate and giving Mugabe a graceful exit. There have been reports of a split over this in the ruling party. There are others in the ruling party who are absolutely hawks though, but believe the first election was just a warm up. (Does anyone believe that a run off or a recount will be any more legitimate?) I’m sure the opposition doesn’t believe the vote was free and fair but they still got their result which was previously unthinkable; no one thought a run off was even possible. But some do fear more threats of violence and intimidation towards the opposition. Police have started to act against the opposition and the foreign press, including the New York Times correspondent. There were a lot of police and military out on the streets last night. (When would the next round happen?) Under the rules it was supposed to be held three weeks after the election, but a deal might be struck with the opposition to choose a later date or perhaps a later date being as far away as 90 days from now. so it’s just one more question that is hanging over this period of uncertainty for Zimbabwe.