Zimbabwe: Post-Election Zimbabwe: What Next?

Unless the international community starts planning together for a peaceful transition to democracy, Zimbabwe faces chaos and violence as the Mugabe era draws to a close. 'Post-Election Zimbabwe: What Next?', the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines the situation in the country since the 31 March 2005 parliamentary elections that confirmed the full control of President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF government. Neither free nor fair, that poll was yet another phase in the crisis that has dominated Zimbabwe's political life for the past five years. But change is coming. "The post-election situation may seem like business as usual, but Mugabe's era is ending", says Peter Kagwanja, Crisis Group's South Africa Project Director. "Both ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) now face existential challenges".