PRESIDENTIAL POLL
Can electoral body resist fiddling with Zimbabwe poll?
There are three possible outcomes of Monday’s election in Zimbabwe: Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) candidate Nelson Chamisa wins; Zanu-PF candidate Emmerson Mnangagwa wins; or there is no outright winner and there will have to be a run-off. But one thing is certain: Zimbabwe will never be the same again. Robert Mugabe has gone forever. The crux of the matter is whether the election will be deemed to have been free and fair – and whether the result will be contested. Mnangagwa desperately needs the international legitimacy that can only be conferred by an election deemed free and fair by the global community. He has done everything in his power to ensure he gets it — preaching peace and ensuring it by keeping his supporters in check, courting the West, promising jobs and prioritising the foreign business investment that will provide them. But all his best efforts could be undone by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), a purportedly independent body established in 2004 to ru...
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