Yesterday, The MDC announced that it is withdrawing from Friday’s presidential run off election, citing state-sponsored violence and a subversion of the electoral process.

We asked our subscribers to text and email us their thoughts on this announcement. The responses in favour of the withdrawal dramatically outweighed those who opposed the decision – by a factor of about 4:1. Those in favour of the withdrawal mainly hoped that this would ease the violence prevailing in Zimbabwe. Those opposed saw the withdrawal as a betrayal of the MDC’s promise of change.

We share some of these responses below:

Supporting withdrawal

Bold decision. Who was going to cast a secret vote when all people are listed in a book & given numbers to check who you voted for?

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From a naive point of view it might seem as if its an ill advised move however if you go beyond the obvious Tsvangirai has once again showed the world what being a true leader is thus the decision was very calculating and that’s what Zimbabwe needs.

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I do believe that under the current circumstances this was the right choice. The loss of life cannot in anyway justify an election that has been fraught with problems from day one.

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Its necessary for him to pull out of the run-off becoz pple have killed and many have lost their homes.

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MDC Pull out in the face of violence saves lives. But what’s our plan B 2avoid political irrelevance & redundancy?

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Positive move coz contesting will legitimize a fraudulent election and saves pple here in Chiweshe where we witnessed a gruesome attack yesterday where a whole family was killed.

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Good idea. Leave those greedy for power rule. Their selfishness will soon be exposed. Innocent blood has been shed. Let it be.

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I really think it’s in order it’s certainly better than engaging in an exercise whose sole reason is to legitimise a despotic ruler.

Opposed to withdrawal

When dozens of Zimbabweans died in Chimio Mugabe did not stop the struggle or pull out he even offered more grit despite the deaths. Now with less than 100 pple dead Tsvangirai is pulling out of a historic election it is a betrayal to the 70+ pple that have died 4 a new beginning.

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As a fellow citizen I definitely condemn such a move as l believe this is a betrayal of the people’s revolution.

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He shld have nt withdrawn he would have betrayed the people who died got beaten displaced for him. In any struggle there are causalities.

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If he pulls out we r dead. The violence we r facing is more than we can take.

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No he must not pull out as it gives us a chance to show our views becoz we have been beaten others killed that we be for nothing.

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Tsvangirai must participate in the run-off his position to pull out is a cowardly act and a betrayal to all those killed and assaulted in the name of change.

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Our pres Tsvangirai has let e pple down & he throws away e hopes 4 a betta zim after so many deaths from our fellow MDC Supporters. He must b a man a stand e fight.

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Morgan should not withdraw from the elections. If he does so, he will have betrayed the movement and he will have betrayed us, as his supporters. What Morgan should understand is that there is no easy road to democracy. He has experienced that through these years after being tormented, beaten and persecuted by the Mugabe regime. The killings, intimidations and beatings currently taking place should not make Morgan to reverse his participation decision. This is a sign that ZANU PF’s rule is about to come to an end. The God of the moment is about to deliver us from the rule of ZANU PF. The example is provided for in the bible. Not all of the children of israel reached Cannan. Same applies to our situation. Not all of us will reach the New Zimbabwe. Some of us will die on the way, the other ones will reach hospitalised, whilst others will get into the new Zimbabwe with bruises. This situation should not dishearten Morgan. We are with him. We will not let him down and God is with him. This is a do or die situation and he can not give up at the last minute.

This entry was posted on June 23rd, 2008 at 12:55 pm by Amanda Atwood and is filed under Elections 2008, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.