The coup in Zimbabwe

I'm not usually keen on the tactic of boycotting elections. But I think it's the right decision for the opposition MDC in Zimbabwe at this stage, should the Mugabe government get away with staging a run-off election for the presidency. The circumstances in which it makes sense for an opposition party to contest elections are given, broadly, when some genuine test of political support and legitimacy can take place - even if it is not a perfect test, even if the elections are not wholly free and fair. In Zimbabwe now, however, it becomes clearer with every passing day that the electoral process is being turned into a cruel farce. On top of everything that has gone before, the governing party has moved the electoral commission to a secret location, which amounts to taking it over. The Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe says that the state broadcaster, ZBC, has subjected Zimbabweans to a tidal wave of 'partisan news coverage'. And supporters of the opposition are already being exposed to open violence by ZANU-PF thugs. A run-off election held in these conditions has no value, except as a ruse to keep Mugabe in power. There has, in effect, been a coup, and the Zimbabwean opposition is right to refuse to participate in a run-off ballot, grotesque mockery of a legitimating process as it would certainly be.

There may not be a lot people can do from afar. But there is one small thing, recommended here.