Unopposed

Today, Zimbabwe went to the polls, for what it's worth. Robert Mugabe should win handily given that he's running unopposed because Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the election because of the ongoing violence.

Addressing his last rally before polls open for the surreal one-horse race, Mr Mugabe told supporters that he would be magnanimous in victory and willing to talk with the opposition.

“Should we emerge victorious, which I believe we will, sure we won’t be arrogant, we will . . . say ‘Let’s sit down and talk’, and talk we shall,” he told the crowd on the outskirts of Harare. “So there it is, let the MDC reject it or accept it. We will continue to rule this country in the way we believe it should be ruled. This is an African country with responsible leaders.”

The renewed offer from Mr Mugabe came in spite of the insistence of Morgan Tsvangirai that the time for talking would be over if the election went ahead. In an interview from his hiding place at the Dutch Embassy in Harare, the opposition leader told The Times that as soon as Mr Mugabe declared victory he would become the illegitimate leader of Zimbabwe. “And I will not negotiate with an illegitimate leader,” he said.

Mugabe has been busy to ensure victory and that isn't restricted to changing the rules of the election. He's been intimidating the opposition for months, sending their leaders into hiding or fleeing for refuge in the Dutch Embassy as Tsvangirai has done.

Voters are being led to the polls - like lambs to the slaughter.

UPDATE:
Hot Air notes the low turnout of the elections, and that the thugs in charge are using the fraud prevention measure of dyed fingers to force people to the polls (the opposite of the situation in Iraq in 2004).

UPDATE:
CNN also reports that Zimbabweans are being forced to vote - because the low turnout would be a repudiation of Mugabe's vengeful and thuggish display.

UPDATE:
Gothamist notes that the NYT's Clyde Haberman pulls out the wayback machine and notes that Mugabe visited New York City in 2002, and was lauded by the dispicable Charles Barron (who apparently has never met a dictator or thug he didn't laud). Barron still thinks that this is all about race, but can't help but blame the US and UK for the situation:

“Does he do things that I disagree with? Yes,” Mr. Barron said. But he clearly still regards Mr. Mugabe as a liberator more than an oppressor. “You didn’t care about black Africans when whites were killing them in Rhodesia,” he said. As he sees it, the real reason that Mr. Mugabe has come under strong attack from the West is the confiscation of white-owned farms.

Echoing Mr. Mugabe’s party line, he suggested that Mr. Tsvangirai is a tool of “British imperialism and the United States as well.” As for political violence, “I don’t think we can deny people are dying,” Mr. Barron said. “Who’s responsible and how many — we need to really get reports other than from the opposition.”