Zimbabwe Update -- And So It Begins...

FOX News reports that the MDC [opposition] has begun to challenge the results of yesterday's election in Zimbabwe.

HARARE, Zimbabwe — With results starting to trickle in Friday, Zimbabwe's opposition leader accused the government of trying to steal the parliamentary election and urged people to defend their vote.

Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, won 31 of the first 39 seats declared Friday, but said inconsistencies in the
results were a sign of things to come and it now expects to lose seats overall in the 150-seat parliament.

"The government has fraudulently, once again, betrayed the people," Tsvangirai said at a news conference. "We believe the people of Zimbabwe must defend their vote and their right to free and fair elections."

Before the election MDC officials were talking about staging a Ukraine-style mass protest if there were irregularities in the voting. According to The Scotsman, Mr Mr Tsvangirai somewhat cryptically said, "In previous elections there had been an attempt to use the legal route when results were disputed. We are not going to pursue that." [here]

If such demonstrations take place there will be violence, and lots of it. Zimbabwe is not Ukraine.

The Washington Times doubts that violence will ensue. It sums up the situation thusly:

Full results from the election were not expected until late Friday, or possibly even Saturday. But here seemed little doubt that Mugabe would chalk up yet another victory, that the opposition and international monitors would angrily criticize the conduct of the election and the preceding campaign, and that the president of Zimbabwe would just ignore them as he has done so often before.

Either way we are seeing in Zimbabwe, as last week in Belorus, the limits of democratic reform. Just as in Belorus an authoritarian government has mobilized its resources effectively to intimidate the opposition and will most likely survive the challenge. Despite the claims of enthusiasts like Michael [Excitable] Ledeen, people power is by no means irresistable.

Stay tuned....

UPDATE:

Mora y Leon has a superb roundup of stories on the Zimbabwe elections over at Publius Pundit. Check it out here.

UPDATE:

Reuters reports:

By Stella Mapenzauswa

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe'sruling party won parliamentary elections on Friday, tighteninghis grip on power, but the opposition said it had been cheated for the third time in five years....

The MDC, which emerged from the labor movement to becomethe most potent challenge to Mugabe since independence fromBritain in 1980, was likely to see its parliamentrepresentation drop from the current 51 seats, analysts said.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai hinted his supporters mighttake to the streets to express their outrage, saying the partyhad given up on legal challenges after unsuccessfully battling results in both 2000 and 2002 it said were also rigged....

Party officials said the MDC leadership would consider itsoptions and issue a statement on Saturday....

"We are extremely disappointed by the results as they havecome out. As we have always complained, it is very clear to usthat this is yet another stolen election," MDCSecretary-General Welshman Ncube told Reuters.

Britain, Zimbabwe's former colonial master and frequentcritic of Mugabe, joined Western powers including the UnitedStates, the European Union, Germany and Australia which have already labeled the poll a travesty."

Mugabe has yet again denied ordinary Zimbabweans a free and fair opportunity to vote, further prolonging the political and economic crisis he has inflicted on their country," Foreign Minister Jack Straw said in a statement.

"Some say this is about Africa versus the West. It is not. It is about democracy versus dictatorship," he said.

Read it here.

Well, now the ball is MDC's court. What comes next? Here's a hint:

The Times reports:

“ZIMBABWEANS have to be willing to risk their own lives for freedom,” said the Archbishop, as the faces of Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr and Gandhi
stared down from his office wall behind him.

“They need to fill up the streets, stop traffic, and bring the country to a halt,” he told The Times shortly before Mr Mugabe’s victory in the election held on Thursday was announced last night.

Pius Ncube, the Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, is his country’s most ardent critic of President Mugabe. He has called for a peaceful uprising to unseat Zimbabwe’s veteran leader if the ruling Zanu(PF) party won....

His call for people power has resonated in the international community, which has witnessed the recent outbursts of democracy in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. But the Archbishop, 58, is not sure whether his countrymen have it within them to rise up in a similar way.

Read it here.

Will it happen? Stay tuned....