International reaction to the 2008 Zimbabwean presidential election International reaction to the 2008 Zimbabwean presidential election The events of the first and second rounds of the Zimbabwean presidential election, which Robert Mugabe of ZANU-PF won on 27 June 2008 after his challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), withdrew from the process and declared it illegitimate, caused reactions from many international bodies. Other Zimbabwean groups have denounced the poll as well (e.g. the Heads of the Christian Denominations in Zimbabwe.) The South African Development Community (SADC) criticised the election in a statement on 29 June, saying that it "did not represent the will of the
Zimbabwe humanity to bring Mugabe to trial in front of the International Criminal Court. Male homosexuality is illegal in Zimbabwe. Since 1995, the government has carried out campaigns against both homosexual men and women. President Mugabe has blamed gays for many of Zimbabwe's problems and viewed homosexuality as an "un-African" and immoral culture brought by European colonists and practiced by only "a few whites" in his country. Opposition gatherings are frequently the subject of brutal attacks by the police force, such as the crackdown on an 11 March 2007 Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) rally and several others during the 2008