Campaigning for the 2008 Zimbabwean presidential election British, who he described as the puppeteers of Tsvangirai and Makoni. Campaigning for the 2008 Zimbabwean presidential election Campaigning for the first round of the presidential election held in Zimbabwe on 29 March 2008 took place from February to March. There were three major candidates: President Robert Mugabe of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC, Tsvangirai faction), and the independent candidate Simba Makoni. Mugabe declared on 12 February that he was "raring to go and raring to fly". Speaking at a rally in Beitbridge on 23
Robert Mugabe He reluctantly took part in the peace negotiations brokered by the United Kingdom that resulted in the Lancaster House Agreement. The agreement dismantled the short-lived Zimbabwe Rhodesia and resulted in the 1980 general election, at which Mugabe led ZANU-PF to victory. Mugabe's administration expanded healthcare and education and—despite his Marxist rhetoric and professed desire for a socialist society—adhered largely to mainstream, conservative economic policies. His calls for racial reconciliation failed to stem growing white flight. Relations with Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) declined, with Mugabe's government crushing ZAPU-linked opposition in Matabeleland during the Gukurahundi between 1982 and 1985;