HARARE, Zimbabwe, June 8 (UPI) -- Ordinary Zimbabweans are warning President Robert Mugabe they'll shake off intimidation tactics and vote him out of office in an upcoming run-off election.
That's the conclusion drawn by the Zimbabwe Standard (Harare) newspaper in a report published Sunday. The newspaper says its interviews with voters across the country in the wake of internationally condemned efforts at intimidation by Mugabe indicate they'll show him the door come the June 27 run-off election.
Mugabe's Zanu PF party lost by 13 percentage points to Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party in the March preliminary election, and voters told the Standard the next results will be similar.
"We are tired of being told that our economic problems are caused by Britain and America, as if they are the ones running our government," said Martin Ngwenya, a mechanic from Bulawayo. "We want a government that will not take us for granted."
"We cannot wait to remind Mugabe that he must know when to quit and that it is time he stopped imposing himself on us," Noliwe Ncube told the Standard. "We want to show Mugabe the exit on 27 June."
