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Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Quits Election

Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Quits Election

Zanu Run-Off Posters

Zimbabwe 's runoff election between President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai was scheduled for Friday.

Militia supporting the President Mugabe's Zanu party have cracked down hard on  the opposition movement for democratic change. According to Tsvangirai's calculations 86 supporter have been killed. 200,000 displaced. 60 people were arrested today at MDC headquarters.

The general secretary of MDC has been jailed on treason charges. Yesterday Tsvangirai decided he'd seen enough and withdrew from the elections.

A Zanu spokesperson said the elections would continue on Friday without him explaining that “the constitution does not say that if somebody drops out, or decides to chicken out, that runoffs will not be held.”

Tony Hawkins is an Economist at the University of Zimbabwe . He writes occasionally for the Financial Times.

Jerome asked him about Tsvangirai's decision to drop out…

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