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 John Nkomo died of cancer at St Anne's Hospital, Harare at the age of 78. A new constitution approved in the Zimbabwean constitutional referendum, 2013 curtails presidential powers. Mugabe was re-elected president in the July 2013 Zimbabwean general election which "The Economist" described as "rigged." and the "Daily Telegraph" as "stolen". The Movement for Democratic Change alleged massive fraud and tried to seek relief through the courts. In a surprising moment of candour at the ZANU-PF congress in December 2014, President Robert Mugabe accidentally let slip that the opposition had in fact won the contentious 2008 polls by an astounding