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Voices |
 
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"They insist that we are the ultimate democracy
to which totalitarian governments, third-world nations, and banana republics
should attempt to emulate. If that's the case, Zimbabwe is already very
American."
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"Zimbabwe's Very American Election"
Posted April 5, 2005 thepeoplesvoice.org
By: Gene C. Gerard
Last week, the African nation of Zimbabwe held parliamentary elections. It was
viewed, both within the country and by foreign observers, as a referendum on the
country's elderly and dictatorial ruler, President Robert Mugabe, who has been
in power since 1980. Mr. Mugabe's party, The Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front, won 71 seats in the election, while the opposition party,
the Movement for Democratic Change, garnered only 39. Both the opposition party
and independent observers have accused President Mugabe of stealing the
election.
Morgan Tsvangarai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, said Mr.
Mugabe won only through the use of intimidation tactics and vote-rigging. The
U.S. State Department called the election "seriously flawed." And Secretary of
State Condoleeza Rice stated, "the election was not free and fair." Yet
ironically, it appears as if Zimbabwe's election was very American-like, if our
election in 2004 is any indication.
President Mugabe and his party attempted to manipulate the media. His government
essentially runs all media outlets in Zimbabwe. Consequently, coverage of his
administration and his party's campaign was heavily biased. Also, a law was
enacted in November that made it illegal to practice journalism without a
government-issued license, and subjected anyone guilty of this offense to a
prison sentence. In February, his government barred foreign journalists from
reporting on the impending election without governmental approval, which was
rarely given.
Since our own election last November, we've learned that the Bush administration
also attempted to manipulate the media. Various journalists have admitted to
being paid by the government to promote President Bush's agenda. In addition,
the administration has admitted to creating fake "news" stories, with actors
portraying reporters, to promote President Bush's policies. The stories were
distributed to television media outlets to use in their nightly news segments.
President Mugabe's government attempted to disenfranchise voters. Absentee
ballots were only mailed to civil servants, diplomats, and uniformed members of
the military and security forces living abroad. Yet there are over one million
of Zimbabwe's citizens in other African countries. Likewise, the Bush
administration took great efforts to ensure that military personnel serving
abroad had every opportunity to vote. But other Americans living abroad,
particularly in Europe, had enormous difficulties obtaining absentee ballots in
time to vote, if at all. One report of American's living in Rome indicated that
as many as 90 percent of those who requested the ballots did not receive them in
time to vote.
According to nongovernmental organizations which monitored Zimbabwe's election,
there were significant problems at polling stations. Election officers who were
appointed by the Mugabe government were accused of barring the opposition
party's voting monitors from polling stations. As a result, by some reports, as
many as ten percent of Zimbabweans who attempted to vote were turned away, on
the grounds that they lacked proper identification, or were voting in the wrong
district. Additionally, when an election complaint was lodged, there were not
enough independent judges to rule on the complaints, given that most had been
appointed by President Mugabe or were members of his party.
In our election last November there were various complaints of problems at
voting polls. Many of these complaints occurred in Ohio. Republican polling
monitors in Ohio outnumbered Democratic monitors by almost two-to-one.
Consequently, when Republican monitors objected to someone attempting to vote,
there were not enough Democratic monitors to refute the objection, resulting in
the disenfranchisement of some voters. Also, virtually all voting complaints in
Ohio were resolved by their Secretary of State, J. Kenneth Blackwell, who was
also the co-chairman of President Bush's re-election campaign in Ohio, and could
hardly be regarded as independent.
Other similarities between the two elections are equally compelling. In the 2002
Zimbabwe elections, President Mugabe's supporters were accused of killing
hundreds of opponents. In order to demonstrate that the elections last week were
fair, he invited hundreds of foreign observers to watch the elections. After our
questionable election in 2000, the U.S. State Department, for the first time
ever, allowed the United Nations to officially monitor the 2004 election.
President Mugabe's party bused-in loyal audiences whenever they held a campaign
rally, in order to pack their campaign sites. Although not widely known, the
Bush/Cheney '04 Campaign never allowed the general public to attend any of
President Bush's rallies last fall. All attendees were required to have an
invitation, and the invitations were only mailed to registered Republicans in
the county in which Mr. Bush was speaking.
Both presidents manipulated the electorate in grotesque ways in order to win
their elections. By most estimates, half of all Zimbabweans are undernourished.
Starvation is a sad and common part of life in that country. But last year,
President Mugabe ordered the World Food Program and Save the Children Federation
to discontinue distributing food aid.
He announced that the country had become self-sufficient, and that his
government would now allocate food resources. This forced Zimbabweans to rely
almost entirely on the government for food. Consequently, Mr. Mugabe's
government began to distribute food only to those who had a voter registration
card showing that they were members of his ruling party. In fact, the party
routinely handed out food at their rallies.
Similarly, President Bush played on the fear and worries of Americans in order
to ensure his re-election. His campaign relentlessly insisted that another
terrorist attack was inevitable if not imminent, and that only Mr. Bush and Mr.
Cheney could save us. They portrayed Senator Kerry as weak on defense and
confused on national security. Vice President Cheney infamously stated in a town
hall meeting in Ohio last October that the greatest threat we now faced was a
nuclear or chemical weapons attack in one of our cities, and that Mr. Kerry was
not tough enough to prevent it.
The Bush administration, and indeed many Americans, love to hold up America as a
beacon to the rest of the world. They insist that we are the ultimate democracy
to which totalitarian governments, third-world nations, and banana republics
should attempt to emulate. If that's the case, Zimbabwe is already very
American.
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© Copyright 2005 by Gene C. Gerard. Permission
is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media if this credit is
attached and the title remains unchanged. Gene C. Gerard teaches American
history at a college in suburban Dallas, and is a contributing author to the
forthcoming book "Americans at War," to be published by
Greenwood Press. His previous articles have appeared in Political Affairs
Magazine, Dissident Voice, The Free Press, Intervention Magazine, The Modern
Tribune, and The Palestine Chronicle.
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