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Zimbabwean presidential election, 2008 The Republic of Zimbabwe held a presidential election along with a parliamentary election on March 29, 2008.The three major candidates were incumbent President Robert Mugabe of the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and Simba Makoni, an independent.As no candidate received an outright majority in the first round, a second round was held on June 27,
: g- W/ ?& N5 w8 a) [2008 between Tsvangirai (with 47.9% of the first round vote) and Mugabe (43.2%). Tsvangirai withdrew from the second round a week before it was scheduled to take place, citing violence against his party's supporters. The second round went ahead, despite widespread criticism, and led to victory for Mugabe.1 [; l2 Y4 m- m8 a) T
4 A9 Z9 I+ M5 W! Z! ]6 QBecause of Zimbabwe's dire economic situation the election was expected to provide President Mugabe with his toughest electoral challenge to date. Mugabe's opponents were critical of the handling of the electoral process, and the government was accused of planning to rig the election; Human Rights Watch said that the election was likely to be "deeply flawed". After the first round, but before the counting was completed, Jose Marcos Barrica, the head of the Southern African Development Community observer mission, described the election as "a peaceful and credible expression of the will of the people of Zimbabwe."* A" U8 W+ @4 p9 l2 S
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No official results were announced for more than a month after the first round.The failure to release results was strongly criticized by the MDC, which unsuccessfully sought an order from the High Court to force their release. An independent projection placed Tsvangirai in the lead, but without the majority needed to avoid a second round. The MDC declared that Tsvangirai won a narrow majority in the first round and initially refused to participate in any second round.ZANU-PF has said that Mugabe will participate in a second round; the party alleged that some electoral officials, in connection with the MDC, fraudulently reduced Mugabe's score, and as a result a recount was conducted.
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) E7 t% f- _8 T: G. m, F& O* DAfter the recount and the verification of the results, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced on May 2 that Tsvangirai won 47.9% and Mugabe won 43.2%, thereby necessitating a run-off, which was to be held on 27 June 2008.Despite Tsvangirai's continuing claims to have won a first round majority, he initially decided to participate in the second round.The period following the first round was marked by serious political violence. ZANU-PF and the MDC each blamed the other's supporters for perpetrating this violence; Western governments and prominent Western organizations have blamed ZANU-PF for the violence.On June 22, 2008, Tsvangirai announced that he was withdrawing from the run-off, describing it as a "violent sham" and saying that his supporters risked being killed if they voted for him. The second round nevertheless went ahead as planned with Mugabe as the only actively participating candidate, although Tsvangirai's name remained on the ballot.Mugabe won the second round by an overwhelming margin and was sworn in for another term as President on June 29.
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The international reaction to the second round have varied. Several countries have called for increased sanctions.The African Union has called for a "government of national unity."
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