"A Real and Serious Blow to Mugabe."

That is the title of a post on Sunday by veteran Zimbabwean Journalist, Peta Thornycroft in her blog that appears in the Daily Telegraph (U.K.).  As we have argued in this blog and as Eddie Cross states in his most recent essay, the fact that the 3,000 ZANU-PF delegates failed to adopt the resolution for a "harmonization of elections" that would postpone presidential elections 2 years to 2010 is highly significant:

"The first [blow] was in 2000 when Zimbabwean voters,  led by the new (and now divided) opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, rejected a new constitution which Mugabe wanted.  The second came on Saturday, when the ruling Zanu PF rejected his desire to have his term of office, which expires in 2008, extended for two years. There was real consternation among the party leadership, known as the presidium,  as it wasn’t only the 3000 delegates to the annual Zanu PF conference who were divided about his desire to hang on until he is 86.  Earlier in the week the Zanu PF politburo couldn’t come to a decision either. The next day the central committee, which is the party’s highest authority in between its five year congresses, also turned him down."

Read the whole post in Thornycroft's blog.  Read also her December 17th report on VOA's Studio 7 program on the same subject.