Zimbabwe

Gideon Gono prints money, lots and lots of money that's worth next to nothing. Depending on whom you talk to, the architect of Zimbabwe's hyperinflation is a megalomaniac, a workaholic, a thief -- or the country's savior. Zimbabwe's central bank chief seems to have a finger in every government ministry. No project goes ahead without his approval. No underling approaches without fear and trembling.

The road is scarred with skid marks, some curved like snakes, others pencil straight. They shriek the fates of unlucky travelers who lost their lives; they mark the near-misses. It's not just the treacherous potholes, or the edges of the road nibbled away like cookies. It's not the dozing driver behind the glaring truck headlights about to veer onto the wrong side. People here in central Zimbabwe are afraid of something else.

It takes 55 million Zimbabwean dollars to buy a single American one. Schools have no teachers. Hospitals have become mortuaries. And inflation has topped 100,000%. As President Robert Mugabe, 84, seeks a sixth term in elections Saturday, Zimbabwe's financial catastrophe takes the words "It's the economy, stupid," to a new level. Yet even with a crisis so intractable it would finish off any leader in a genuine democracy, Mugabe is expected to maintain his grip on power.

Zimbabwe's economy is so destitute that just the cost of running Saturday's elections will lurch the nation toward bankruptcy. Once a regional economic powerhouse and food exporter, Zimbabwe now relies on humanitarian food aid. Its towns and rural roads are lined with children in threadbare rags, or men walking miles, some of them barefoot. With inflation running at 100,000%, President Robert Mugabe recently announced that prices would remain fixed at February levels.

The military was on high alert and the opposition warned of the likelihood of massive electoral fraud as Zimbabweans began voting today in a crucial presidential election. Military and police chiefs said at a joint news conference in Harare, the capital, that they were ready to deal with any threat to national security. Several of the same security officials said days earlier that they would never work with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change if it won the election.

Costa Mizha's eyes blinked open at 4 a.m. Saturday with a sense of anticipation he hadn't felt in years. This was it, March 29. Election day. It was like waking up on the day of a big party. "His time is up now," Mizha thought. He even felt a strange twang of sympathy for the "Old Man," unwanted by his country. He was certain in his bones that Zimbabwe's 84-year-old president, Robert Mugabe, would be chased away in Saturday's election like a broken-down horse. "He's old," Mizha said.

Signs continued to point Monday to either a runoff or outright defeat for longtime ruler Robert Mugabe in the weekend presidential election, but no final overall count was released for a second straight day. According to initial official results released by the Zimbabwe Election Commission, with 66 of 210 parliament seats decided, Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party was one seat ahead of the main opposition party with no presidential results announced.

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai claimed Tuesday to have defeated President Robert Mugabe in Saturday's presidential election and called on the longtime leader to respect voters' will. In his first public appearance since the vote, Tsvangirai endorsed official results released thus far and said any talks on a smooth transition could occur only after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's final announcement of the tally.

President Robert Mugabe's party has lost its majority in parliament after 28 years in power, election officials announced Wednesday, as the aging Zimbabwean leader faced a more damaging blow: the virtual certainty of a runoff in the presidential race that he has scant hope of winning.

Authorities searched offices of the main opposition party and detained foreign journalists Thursday, fueling fears that ruling party hard-liners were trying to block a deal to end President Robert Mugabe's 28 years in power. Five days after weekend balloting, the country's election commission still had not released results of the presidential voting. But officials have announced that Mugabe's ZANU-PF party lost its parliamentary majority for the first time.