How realistic is it that anyone will be able to oust President Mugabe?
The conditions are so skewed in the government’s favour that it’s not realistic to think that any opposition party will be able to oust Mr. Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party. If the elections were free and fair, I think the MDC would win a landslide majority; but under current conditions I think they will lose many of the seats they won in 2000. The MDC knows this too. But Morgan Tsvangirai said that the MDC decided to contest the elections because many Zimbabweans want to confront the Mugabe regime and to vote against it. If they boycotted the elections, the people would not have that chance. Who exactly will be monitoring these elections? Just five weeks before the elections, there are no international observer groups in Zimbabwe. This is against the guidelines of SADC, the 14-nation regional group, which calls for regional observers at least 90 days before elections. There is a great danger that SADC, led by South Africa, will not view the elections critically and will endorse the electi
