Zimbabwe: Mugabe Likely to Be Re-Elected - Cato Institute Report

by Dave Keating | March 27, 2008 at 08:59 am | 250 views | 1 comment

Though many were expecting him to be voted out, it appears strongman Robert Mugabe is going to be reelected in the Zimbabwe election.

ZIMBABWE'S president, Robert Mugabe will likely remain in power after this weekend's elections despite being largely responsible for Zimbabwe's implosion, a study released by the Cato Institute has indicated.

In a document, 'A Decade of Suffering in Zimbabwe: Economic Collapse and Political Repression under Robert Mugabe,' David Coltart, a Bulawayo based human rights lawyer and opposition MDC (Mutambara) politician who was commissioned to carry out the study, noted that the atrocities allegedly committed by government in the early 1980s, will be outweighed by Mugabe's grip on Zimbabwe's fearful electorate. According to Coltart, institutional weaknesses, which characterized colonial rule and were enshrined in Zimbabwe's 1980 constitution, were the root of the current crisis. The constitution, noted Coltart, provided little balance of power between the branches of government and did little to restrain governmental abuse.