Mick Hartley

This is good news:

Latest opinion polls from Zimbabwe show President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party as only slightly in the lead with less than a week remaining before the country goes to the polls.

Some 40 per cent of Zimbabweans questioned say they intend voting for Mr Mugabe’s party, the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).

Another 34 per cent will choose the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in next Thursday’s parliamentary elections, a survey of 7,000 voters carried out by Joseph Kurebwa, a University of Zimbabwe political lecturer, showed.

The study contradicts predictions of a landslide victory for ZANU-PF and suggests that the MDC, led by the former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai, may yet be able to overcome months of intimidation to retain many of its parliamentary seats. Parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe in 2000 were won by ZANU-PF by only a small margin. Mr Mugabe’s party took 62 seats against 57 for the MDC.

Which makes it all the sadder that neighbouring leaders, especially South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki, aren’t putting any pressure on Mugabe. Bruce Anderson in the Times:

In any fair election, Robert Mugabe would be blown away. The Movement for Democratic Change and its brave leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, would win an overwhelming victory. Mugabe knows that, which is why the elections will be run by the army with members of his own militia — the so-called national youth service — at the polling stations to “assist” voters.

There will be widespread intimidation and brutality. If that does not work, the ballot boxes will be stuffed. Those who count the notes are under Mugabe’s control. They will know what to do. It will be a monstrous perversion of freedom, law, democracy and hope. Yet where are the protests from other African countries?

Mr Mbeki seems to speak for all his fellow sub-Saharan leaders. Their argument appears to be that, as Mugabe helped to free his country, he should now be allowed to wreck it. Thus millions of people are condemned to suffering; a country which should be rich is condemned to poverty.