Zimbabwe GEORGETOWN, Guyana - When –as appears likely, at least at this juncture – general elections are held in Zimbabwe later this year under a new constitution Robert Mugabe will, in all likelihood, be running for office as President of the Southern African country again. The one-time freedom fighter turned 89 in February, a juncture in most political leaders’ lives when the trappings of office and the addiction to power tend to evaporate in thick mist of physical and mental deterioration. That, it seems, is not the case with Mr. Mugabe; at least not yet. He soldiers on still, according to reports, still prepared to do what he feels he has to do to maintain his grip on power.
Zimbabwe may have had general elections in 2008 but the country does not even remotely resemble a conventional democracy. After the announced outcome of the elections had threatened to spark an outright civil war, a political compromise was reached that allowed for the appointment of Mugabe’s main political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister. The two men, however, remain at daggers drawn with Tsvangirai having made more than one public claim about thugs aligned to Mugabe’s ZANU-PF Party attacking and beating his supporters and destroying property.