Out of Africa

While still in the dark on the presidential outcome, a few things are becoming clear in post-election Zimbabwe.

The first is that, in parliament, the opposition MDC has won a majority, making gains at the expense of several top cabinet ministers in president Robert Mugabe's government. Secondly, and most importantly, it is nigh impossible for Mugabe to cling to power with any legitimacy whatsoever.

That, unfortunately, might be what happens. In all likelihood, there will a runoff between Tsvangirai and Mugabe - a contest the MDC leader is almost sure to win. That begs the question: how far will the ruling party go to win?

With the police and military due to lose much of their influence if Mugabe resigns, they could beat up demonstrators, ban rallies and raid offices - things they thankfully abstained from in the first round of voting - to get Bob back in.

It would be a cruel result for Zimbabweans who have shown such courage and patience with their fledgling democracy to have it hijacked yet again, and the president would be even more widely reviled for it. (More) sanctions and isolation would inevitably follow, with the plight of the people sure to get (if possible) much worse. That's one option.

The second is that Mugabe allows a free and fair runoff, much like the first election campaign, and resists the temptation to beat the will of the people into submission. As mentioned above, this is a contest he will probably lose, potentially by an embarrassingly large margin. If nothing else, the president is proud man and may not accept this fate.

Lastly is for Bob and co. (meaning his extensive patronage network) to gracefully resign now and acknowledge that the country has voted for change. The MDC, despite their thirst for revenge, should offer him a comfortable retirement free from the international courts and commit to working with the opposition to fix the small matter of healing one of the world's most broken nations.

With Mugabe holding four days of private meetings with top advisors and international diplomats, you feel that he might have already given up and want an easy way out. For all the harm he's caused the country, it's the one thing he can do now to begin the healing process.