2013 — The Disputed Vote

On July 31, 2013, Zimbabwe went to the polls in its most bitterly contested election in years. President Robert Mugabe, at eighty-nine and in power since independence in 1980, faced his longtime rival Morgan Tsvangirai. The official result gave Mugabe a landslide, with over 61 percent of the vote.

The opposition cried foul, pointing to a voters' roll stuffed with ghost names and voters turned away in droves. African observers widely praised the peace, but Western monitors refused to call it free and fair. The disputed vote would haunt Zimbabwe for many years, deepening its long isolation from the world.