WHY A RUNOFF ELECTION?

I wonder if they should even bother with a runoff election in Zimbabwe with Mugabe's wife saying things like in the story below!
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SHAMVA, Zimbabwe (AFP) — President Robert Mugabe will never vacate his office for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai even if he loses a run-off election next month, the Zimbabwean leader's wife said Thursday.

Grace Mugabe told followers of her husband's ZANU-PF party that Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would not be allowed to take power under any circumstances.

"Even if people vote for the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai will never step foot inside State House," she said after meeting victims of political violence that has rocked Zimbabwe since the first round of voting on March 29.

"He will only get to hear about what it looks like inside State House from people who have been there. Even if Baba (Mugabe) loses, he will only leave State House to make way for someone from ZANU-PF."

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Xenophobic attacks rock Johannesburg

In the first major violence in South Africa since apartheid, there were attacks in Johannesburg against foreign immigrants this weekend. The attacks mainly targeted Zimbabwean immigrants. The violence which began last week has already left more than 20 people dead, and have driven 30,000 people out of their makeshift homes.

There are about 3-5 million immigrants to South Africa. Amid rising inflation and unemployment in South Africa, foreigners are being targeted because they are, it is said, taking South African jobs. Many Zimbabweans have left the country and fled to South Africa due to the instable political climate in Zimbabwe and are now facing attacks from South Africans themselves.

With attention at the moment being turned to the China olympics and the possible boycotts that may rock the olympics, it will be interesting to see whether attention will soon be turned to South Africa which is supposed to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Below is a video from SkyNews detailing the violence in South Africa

Zimbabwe inflation now over 1 million percent

Mutare, 1993. My parents bought the house they live in today for Z$180 000.

Today, a small pack of locally produced coffee beans cost just short of 1 billion Zimbabwe dollars. Zimbabwe's inflation has soared to 1,063,572% according to independent financial analysts in Zimbabwe. A loaf of bread costs today, what 12 new cars cost a decade ago. The last official figure given by the government was 165,000% back in February. They have claimed that it is too expensive for them to calculate the inflation figures anymore. Companies have been complaining of high absenteeism rates due to the high costs of transport that employees must pay to get to work. In the March 29 election, many voters said that the economy was a top issue for them. It will be interesting to see how the results will turn out in the second round of voting which is set for June 27

A New AIDS in Zimbabwe

According to the UN in Zimbabwe "More than 4,000,000 Zimbabweans are currently dependent on humanitarian services, directly or indirectly, including in the form of remittances for the diaspora to help address basic needs such as food, healthcare, etc. Keeping their sense of humor, Zimbabweans see themselves as victims of many AIDS, such as the Acquired Industrial Decline Syndrome or the most vicious Acquired Inflation Disease Syndrome."

Zimbabwe run off could face delay of up to one year

From combined sources- The Guardian (UK), LA Times

Zimbabwe's second round of voting could, the ruling party has stated, be held in one year. Election officials will meet in the coming weeks to decide a date for the run off election. The law requires the second round to be held within three weeks of the original election, but the commission has the power to extend the period between the elections.

In the first round, as shown in the post below, Mugabe won 43.2% of the vote compared to 47.9% of the opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai. A third candidate, Simba Makoni, won 8.3% of the vote. Makoni would subsequently drop out of the 2nd round of voting. The delay in the announcement has sparked the opposition to claim that the government manipulated the results of the first round as their figures showed Tsvangirai won 50.3% of the vote.

Zimbabwe Presidential Election Held March 29th

From The Times (UK), 1 May, 2008

Leaked poll results show that Mugabe lost – but will fight second round

Catherine Philp in Harare

Senior government officials in Zimbabwe leaked results yesterday for last month’s presidential elections, which apparently hand victory to the main opposition leader – but not by enough votes to win outright. The news sets the scene for a bruising election run-off. According to the officials, Morgan Tsvangirai won 47 per cent of the vote against President Mugabe’s 43 per cent. He needed more than 50 per cent to avoid a second round. Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), claimed to have won 50.3 per cent of the vote based on results published at polling stations, but a month later the official tally has still not been released, prompting accusations of vote rigging against the Government. The figures leaked yesterday – a day before the candidates’ agents were due to begin verifying results – suggest that the margin of Mr Tsvangirai’s victory was too large for the Government to overturn credibly.