Today the opposition party in Zimbabwe, the MDC officially pulled out the presidential runoff vote which was set to take place on Friday 27 June. The leader of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai had said on Sunday that he was going to pull out of the vote but the ruling government had said they will only accept his pulling out if he makes it official in writing. So today, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said,”They are now happy recipients of that letter from the MDC. In the letter we are stating clearly that we are not participating in this election.”

Now that it is official, what next? The whole world seems to be condemning what Mugabe is doing in Zimbabwe and they are calling for there to be a change without further lives being lost. Meanwhile, Morgan Tsvangirai had taken up refuge at the Dutch embassy in Harare as he fears for his own safety. Today Tsvangirai said, “I am evaluating my situation and as soon as I am satisfied that it’s safe to do so, then I will leave. I am not being chased away and my hosts have said I can stay for as long as I don’t feel it’s safe to leave … probably within the next two days.”

So the MDC will not be taking part of Fridays vote, will the ruling ZANU PF go ahead with the poll now that they do not have an opponent? Some sources say that they will go ahead with the vote so that they can officially say they have won and thus declare Mugabe the winner and subsequently be named the president of the country.