 In the violent 2002 presidential election Mr. Mugabe won the vote with a 52 percent majority. The run up to Saturday's voting has been mostly peaceful and there has been a resurgence of popularity for main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as well as rejection of ZANU-PF in several key rural areas, but | The prediction in the state controlled daily, The Herald, is that Mr. Mugabe will win by 57 percent this time. |
the prediction in the state controlled daily, The Herald, is that Mr. Mugabe will win by 57 percent this time.
| So he's only stealing 50 percent of the vote, is he? |
The researchers from the political science department at the University of Zimbabwe are openly supportive of ZANU-PF.
| Having no other choice if they want to live ... |
The department's chairman Joseph Kurebwa also predicted that the now seriously divided ZANU-PF will also win more than two thirds of parliamentary, senatorial and local government seats in voting on Saturday. He said his department conducted interviews with more than 10,000 people around the country.
However, founding legal secretary of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, David Coltart, disputes claims of Mr. Mugabe's continued popularity. He says in the southern Matabeleland provinces Mr. Mugabe is trailing badly. Matabeleland accounts for about 20 percent of the vote.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition party in Zimbabwe addresses a press conference in Harare, 20 Mar 2008 "What is absolutely clear is that Robert Mugabe is in enormous difficulty in Matabeleland," he said. "At the very least, the hardcore support of ZANU-PF that is provided to him by the old ZIPRA war veterans, I think is gone. What we don't know is whether Simba Makoni or Morgan Tsvangirai will benefit from that swing." |