Concerns of corruption mar Zimbabwe’s chaotic election
The shenanigans of the ruling party suggest it fears the opposition’s popularity
One of the few things still manufactured in Zimbabwe is support for the ruling party. “Zanu-pf has used all the old tactics and some new ones as well,” said Happy Bangwayo, an unemployed voter outside a polling station in Harare, the capital, on August 23rd. Ballots should have arrived by 7am on election day. But in the poor urban areas that are strongholds of the Citizens Coalition for Change (ccc), the main opposition party, papers were not delivered until late in the afternoon.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Déjà vu ”
More from Middle East & Africa
Mozambique’s opposition leader flies home into chaos
Venâncio Mondlane’s arrival on January 9th could deepen the country’s political crisis
The fate of minorities in post-Assad Syria
The country’s new rulers have yet to include other groups in their government
Eastern Congo is as wretched as ever
Peace talks have collapsed yet again, as rebel groups continue to make mayhem
The era of multilateral peacekeeping draws to an unhappy close
The order replacing it in Africa is likely to be worse
Syria’s new rulers have inherited an economic disaster
A legacy of mismanagement and lingering sanctions will make it hard to rebuild the country
South Sudan’s economic crisis threatens its fragile peace
It shows what happens when a petrostate’s lifeline disappears overnight