MDC Prevails in Zimbabwe Recount

Maybe there is a little bit of hope in Zimbabwe after all. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has announced that of the 23 seats that were subject to recount, the MDC retained 18 of them. So it is now official. Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF has lost control of the lower house of Parliament for the first time since independence in 1980. However, this must be tempered by the fact that the ZANU-PF and the MDC have an identical number of seats in the upper house. Under the best of circumstances, the ZANU-PF will do much to obstruct MDC initiatives. But these are not the best of circumstances. MDC offices continue to be raided and opposition activists continue to be arrested and beaten. Given that the ZEC has upheld the parliamentary result for the MDC one should not be surprised to see members of the ZEC arrested as they were when they first announced favorable results for the MDC. Of course, nearly a month has passed and the Presidential results still haven't been announced.