Robert Mugabe murdered democracy in Zimbabwe by not only getting himself re-elected in a sham election, but also took the oath of office after declaring the election result that was boycotted by the opposition. In Turkey, too, democracy is at the crossroads. The Constitutional Court is hearing a case against the ruling AK Party for allegedly undermining the secular tenets of the country. The other major events that made headlines this week were the rocky start to France's presidency of the European Union, and a political crisis in India over the Indo-US nuclear deal. These events were contemplated, analysed and commented on. We present here excerpts of editorials from the regional and the international press.
Zimbabwe elections
"Robert Mugabe brazenly and brutally stole his latest re-election as president of Zimbabwe. Now Africa's leaders, who have looked the other way for far too long, must decide what they will do," said the New York Times
Calling on the African Union and the international community to take action against the autocratic decision of Mugabe, it stated "They can continue to enable Mugabe out of political cynicism or misplaced solidarity with a former liberation leader turned tyrant. Or they can follow the wiser example of the living symbol of African liberation, Nelson Mandela, who last week condemned Zimbabwe's 'tragic failure of leadership'. ... They must speak the truth about Mugabe and all the horrors he has visited on Zimbabwe, back their words with sanctions and call on the Security Council to do the same."
Washington Post too criticised the Zimbabwean leader and urged the UN Security Council to take note of the happenings in the African nation.
"Africa's failure means that the challenge of Zimbabwe must now be taken up by the UN Security Council; Mugabe spurned its unanimous vote in favour of postponing the one-sided runoff election he staged last week. UN is circulating an appropriately tough resolution that would declare Mugabe's new mandate illegitimate," it stated.
However, The Herald, a Zimbabwean daily, defended Mugabe and insisted that a dialogue was the only way forward for the country, and not foreign intervention.
"Now is the time for leaders of opposition and ruling parties to wave the olive branch across the narrow divide to flag off a meeting between them to find a homegrown solution of their political conflicts." It suggested the name of South African President Thabo Mbeki as "a dependable and reliable mediator".
Justifying its decision not to involve foreigners in the country's internal matters, it remarked: "... let us face it, foreigners with hidden agendas are trying strenuously to magnify the differences between the ruling and opposition parties in Zimbabwe by using their foreign Press, infamous in Africa, to magnify events in Zimbabwe and other third world countries out of proportion. They do this by validating centuries old Eurocentric beliefs that nothing good can come out of Africa."
France and EU
Soon after taking over the rotating presidency of the European Union, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy got into a controversy over the Irish 'no' vote on EU and his public spat with European trade chief Peter Mandelson. To add insult to injury, Polish President Lech Kaczynski refused to sign the Lisbon Treaty that was aimed at streamlining EU decision-making.
"Sarkozy faces an EU balancing act," remarked The Gulf Times.
It suggested that Sarkozy would require the balance of Blondin. "The rotation system adopted by the EU whereby the 27 member countries take turns in holding the presidency appears on the surface to be egalitarian but in reality it is egregious ... So it appears that the tightrope on which Sarkozy will need to walk will actually be used for a tug of war between French interests on one side and the rest of the EU on the other," it said.
Turkey and secularism
Turkey's Constitutional Court hinted that it would ban the ruling AK Party and around 70 leaders, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for undermining secularism in the country.
Turkish Daily News stated that no one can now say for sure what the verdict of the Constitutional Court in the closure case against the Justice and Development Party or AKP, is to be, but it is clear that the ruling party has started preparing for elections. Yes, perhaps it is just preparing for municipal elections, but a preparation is underway.
India's political crisis
In India, the ruling United Progressive Alliance showed cracks when the Left parties, which support the Congress party-led government threatened to withdraw its support in case Prime Minister Manmohan Singh goes ahead with the nuclear deal signed with the US.
The Hindu said: "Demoralised by a string of Assembly election defeats, notably in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, and Karnataka, and besieged by economic and political troubles, the Congress has absolutely no idea where it is going ... The issue on which the ruling party has chosen to make a do-or-die stand is not anything connected with the problems of the people - but the Indo-US nuclear deal."
