USA Africa Dialogue Series - Analysis: The African Union stays in character for Zim election whitewash

"I have never seen an election that is perfect," said Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday. Coming from a former Nigerian president, that's not hard to believe. Obasanjo was explaining how the African Union election observer mission to Zimbabwe could conclude that there was nothing substantively wrong with the result. "The point has always been and will always be how much have the infractions, imperfections, affected the result of the election being a reflection of the will of the people?"

In Zimbabwe, none of the serious infractions and imperfections identified by the opposition, independent media, civil society groups and local election observers were enough for the AU to dismiss, or even question, the result of the election which was, according to Obasanjo and his team, peaceful, credible, and "fairly fair", whatever that means.

It's easy to see why the AU would be so keen to embrace these decidedly flawed results, to give them the all-important continental seal of security. The last time Robert Mugabe lost an election the concequences were disastrous, not just for Zimbabwe, but for the region and for the continent as a whole. Zimbabwe's economic collapse and post-election violence was incredibly destabilizing for Africa, and if there's one thing that the AU

prizes above all else – yes, far above democracy – it's stability. Read More

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