Truemors
Digg
del.icio.us
AddToAny
Write
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
Mugabe Rig Killed by Internet
by politisite | April 2, 2008 at 06:43 am | 541 views | 1 comment | 10 recommendations
What is the Internet Good for you ask? How about keeping Presidents in Africa from Minipulating election results
One of the key differences between this year’s general election in Zimbabwe and the widely-believed-to-be-rigged presidential race in 2005 is the practice - agreed to in the Mbeki-mediated pre-election talks - of starting the count immediately after polls closed and displaying the results of the count to public view outside each polling station as soon as it is completed. Add to this the greater penetration of mobile phones and internet access, and it becomes much more difficult for President Robert Mugabe to cling to power by manipulating the election results.
Since results from individual polling places were posted, a site like this one went to all of the polling areas and tabulated the results. While many news services were claiming a run off was necessary due to the opposition result of 48%, this site was calling the result 50.3% keep a runoff at bay. Here is where the Internet keeps possible rigs from skewing results in Mugabe's favor.
PRESIDENTIAL UNOFFICAL RESULTS - 91% ReportingMorgan Tsvangirai 1,036,939 50%
Robert Mugabe 895,717 43%
Simba Makoni 148, 887 7%
Source: zimelectionresults.com via politisite
April 2, 2008 at 06:43 am by politisite, 541 views, 1 comment
Crowd Power
AlvarezGalloso
Miami, Florida, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 08:11 on April 2nd, 2008
The web can indeed be leveraged as the voice of the people. The next step, though, is trickier: Mugabe still controls the police and the military, and has vowed time and again never to leave office while still alive. Do you think he'll respect the results of the election?