The opposition is now calling for a general strike as a result.

Of note, there is also talk of a recount, which appears to be outright vote theft in an attempt to screw with the parliamentary results too.

For what it’s worth, if there is a villian in all of this outside of Mugabe and the ZANU-PF, it’s South African President Thabo Mbeki, who appears to be doing his level best to aid and abet the vote fraud in Zimbabwe.

I think that part of this is the sentiment among Mbeki and the ANC that as a “revolutionary” Mugabe is one of them, and part of this is being driven by electoral concerns: They are concerned that the principle of the democratic defeat of a revolutionary leader might at some later date be applied to the ANC.