Zimbabwe "elections"

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The Unions back the MDC (basically a standard issue Labour/Social Democrat party)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Wait til the rural (non-Matable o/c) results come in... sad fact is it is much easier to commit fraud sucessfully in rural areas and usually much easier to bribe and/or intimidate rural voters than urban ones... especially when in some places you have to show a ZANU-PF card to get any food...

In one constituency, it was initially announced that over 40,000 people had voted. It's now down to something like 20,000... fraud is so much easier when you control the entire electoral system and count the votes...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

And they're now saying ZANU-PF have won a majority. No surprise there then.

All the results haven't been declared yet... and ZANU-PF is currently behind in seats... tells ya something don't it? No such thing as democracy in non-matable rural areas...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's currently 31/28 to MDC with 61 to declare. Some good news: it looks as though the Speaker has been shock defeated by an MDC candidate.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Current totals: ZANU-PF 40, MDC 32, Undeclared 48

It's actually 30 seats appointed by Mugabe...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Put down the crackpipe Migrendel.

1. Zimbabwe is only a semi-democracy as 30 seats out of 150 (or is it 120?) are appointed by the President.

2. The election was rigged... there were cases of the number of votes cast in some ZANU-PF areas rising AFTER the polls closed and it was the reverse in some MDC areas.
The electoral register is full of dead and dulipicate voters...

3. Millions of voters currently living abroad were purged from the electoral roll for no real reason... other than the fact they would have gone hugely for the MDC.

4. Years of intimidation and repression including "votes for food".

[Filuwaúrdjan]

*cough* Chamber of the Lords *cough*

The House of Lords does not determine who becomes P.M, cannot dismiss the Government and cannot kill legislation. Even the Commons wants to it can even make it stop any blocking (it can't block "money bills" anyway).
If there is a standoff (like the Anti Terror bill) the Lords is supposed to cave in first.

I think the Lords should have a large elected element, but it doesn't compare with the joke of a system in Zimbabwe... an equivilent to that would be letting the P.M appoint 100 M.P's.