Samantha Cardillo

I.
Title: Legal Fight Over Zimbabwe Recount
Date: April 13, 2008
Source: BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7345097.stm

II.
This article discussed the current legal fight in Zimbabwe, Africa. Last month, Zimbabwe held voting rights to its’ many citizens. On March 29, 2008 the elections for president, parliament, senate, and council were held. After waiting over two weeks to hear the results f the presidential race, President Mugabe, who has been in power since the early 1980s, was proclaimed Zimbabwe’s President, again. Government officials claim he won by an overwhelming amount of votes. However, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claims they have won the presidential campaign. The MDC said, throughout those two weeks “they”, meaning President’s Mugabe’s officials has custody of the ballot boxes. The MDC accused the officials of stuffing the ballot boxes with more Mugabe boxes. Meaning, that Morgan Tsvangirai, won more than fifty percent of the votes necessary to win the presidential campaign. Not only is the MDC accusing Mugabe, but they also proclaimed that under President Mugabe, there was a dramatic economic collapse, hyper-inflation, massive unemployment, and the departure of over a hundred thousand people. According the MDC, President Mugabe should be kicked out of office. Therefore, there will be a recount on this upcoming Saturday. Over twenty-three constituencies will be recounted.

III.
a) This article relates to the AP World History theme of creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems. This is because Zimbabwe obviously has been having a government issue. Not only over who becomes President, but of the recent economy drop, and massive unemployment.
b) Zimbabwe has been a democracy since the late 1960s. From that time, President Mugabe has been in office for 28 of those years. Citizens are now eager to replace him.
c) This article was written from a British male.
d) Due to the fact that this article was written from a British male, it may be hard to fully analyze this situation. This is because he is not a true Zimbabwe citizen and may be making light of this situation when in reality, it is a lot worse. Zimbabwe citizens may feel that Mugabe could possibly be turning into a dictator, therefore in this article, you may not be receiving the best information to accuracy.
e) I would like to hear from a normal Zimbabwe citizen. When I say normal, I mean a citizen who is not involved with government issues. He/She may have stronger feelings toward the situation; therefore, the reader could receive the best views on this topic. f) I think that President Mugabe should not be in office any longer. It seems to me, that he is turning into a dictator and he needs to be stopped. I also do believe that some votes may have been tainted throughout the two week calculation process. I am shocked that a government would take that long, but I am also shocked that someone could be in office for twenty-eight years. It will be interesting to see who turns out to be the President of Zimbabwe.