The last Zimbabwean Presidential election, held in 2002, was rife with allegations of vote-rigging, intimidation, and fraud. The 2005 Zimbabwe parliamentary elections, held March 31, provided further evidence to President Robert Mugabe's desperation to stay in power, with widespread evidence of vote fraud and pressure by the government and ruling party to ensure their victory.

Archbishop Pius Ncube, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, has called for a peaceful, "Ukraine-style" uprising to overtake Mugabe, who, he says, should "go home gently..." It remains highly unlikely that such an event will take place, however, with Mugabe, at 84, continuing to retain his firm grip on Zimbabwean politics, media, and the economy. An attempted revolution in 1982 was met with fierce resistance on the part of Mugabe's ruling ZANU party, marked by a massacre of the rebels by ZANU's Fifth Brigade. Tensions between the African population (98% of the total population) and white (1% of the total) have furthered this political crisis, as land redistribution has created anarchy in a once vibrant agricultural sector. Further, the drought in South Africa has greatly compounded the nation's debt crisis, leaving the situation increasingly unstable.

Timeline

• 1964 - Ian Smith of the Rhodesian Front is elected Prime Minister. Smith tries to persuade Britain to grant independence.
• 1965 - After negotiations fail with Britain, Smith unilaterally declares Rhodesian independence under white minority rule. International outrage and economic sanctions.
• 1979 - British-brokered all-party talks at Lancaster House in London lead to a peace agreement and new constitution, which guarantees minority rights.
• 1980 - Veteran pro-independence leader Robert Mugabe and his ZANU party win British-supervised independence elections. Mugabe is named prime minister and includes ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo in his cabinet. Independence on April 18, 1980 is internationally recognized.
• 1982 - Mugabe accuses Nkomo of plotting the overthrow of the government and removes him from power. When Nkomo supporters rebel, the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade is deployed; government forces are accused of killing thousands of civilians over the next few years.
• 1987 - In a negotiated settlement, Mugabe and Nkomo merge their parties, ending the civil war.
• 1987 - Mugabe changes the constitution, becoming executive president.
• 1998 - Economic crisis accompanied by riots and strikes.
• 1999 - Economic crisis continues, prompting the formation of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
• February 2000 - Squatters seize hundreds of white-owned farms in a campaign to reclaim what they say was stolen by settlers. Mugabe's draft constitution is defeated in referendum.
• July 2001 - Finance Minister Simba Makoni states that Zimbabwe's foreign reserves have run out and warning the country faces serious food shortages. Most Western donors, including the World Bank and the IMF, have cut aid because of Mugabe's land seizure program.
• February 2002 - Parliament passes a law limiting freedom of the press.
• March 2002 - President Mugabe is re-elected in presidential elections condemned as seriously flawed by the opposition and foreign observers.
• April 2002 - State of disaster declared as worsening food shortages threaten famine. Government blames drought, while the UN's World Food Program says disruption to agriculture is a contributing factor.
• November 2002 - Agriculture Minister Joseph Made says the land "reallocation" is over. He says the government has seized 35 million acres of land from white farmers.
• March 2003 - A widely-observed general strike is followed by the arrests - and reported beatings - of hundreds of people.
• June 2003 - Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai is arrested twice, amid a week of opposition protests. He is charged with treason, adding to an existing treason charge from 2002 over an alleged plot to kill President Mugabe.
• October 2004 - Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is acquitted of treason charges relating to an alleged plot to kill President Mugabe. He faces a separate treason charge.
• January 2005 - The US labels Zimbabwe as one of the world's six "outposts of tyranny". Zimbabwe promptly rejects the statement.
• March 2005 - Ruling ZANU-PF party wins two-thirds of the votes in parliamentary polls. The main opposition party says that the election was rigged.