Zimbabweans, clearly fed up with the economic collapse and the lack of available necessities in Zimbabwe, expressed their anger at the polls in March 2008s presidential and parliamentary elections. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change won a majority of the seats in Parliament, a remarkable defeat for Mugabes party, ZANU-PF. Four days after the vote, Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of Movement for Democratic Change, declared himself the winner by a slim margin. Mugabe refused to concede until the vote count was complete. More than a month after the election, howvever, the vote was not yet complete. Zimbabwes HIgh Court dismissed the oppositions request for the release of election results. Many observers speculated that Mugabe ordered the delay to either intimidate election officials or to rig the results in his favor. Indeed, in April police raided the offices of the opposition and election monitors and detained dozens of people for questioning. After the election, supporters of Mugabe began a brutal campaign of violence against the opposition that left more than 30 people dead and hundreds wounded. Tsvangirai fled the country, fearing assassination attempts. He returned to Zimbabwe in late May.

On May 2, election officials finally released the results of the vote, with Tsvangirai defeating President Robert Mugabe, 47.9% to 43.2%. A runoff election was necessary because neither candidate won more than 50%. In the lead-up to the runoff election, police intensified their crackdown on Tsvangirai and members of his party. Indeed, at least 85 supporters of his party were killed in government-backed violence. Officials banned rallies and repeatedly detained Tsvangirai for attempting to do so. In addition, Tsvangirai’s top deputy, Tendai Biti was arrested on charges of treason. Biti denied he committed treason, and several members of Parliament alleged the charges were trumped up. In June, Mugabe barred humanitarian groups from providing aid in the country—a drastic move that aid organizations estimated