Zimbabwe’s Mugabe May be Using Diamonds to Rig Election

Pacific Standard reported that Global Witness, a resource watchdog based in London, has accused Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, of using income and connections from the country’s diamond fields to rig today’s election. However, no firm conclusion has been reached.

As quoted in the market news:

… as Zimbabweans go to the polls, the case for diamond-fueled corruption passes a smell test but remains far from proven. At least by the international observers pushing it today. And with the polls still open, we’ve yet to start seeing any on-the-ground testimony of vote buying, or investigation of where any such buying would have gotten its funds. Does the case for a diamond-fueled rigged election make intuitive sense? Sure. The dots are all there. But no one’s connected them—including us; we’re not in Zimbabwe today. We’ve put in a few calls to election observers in Harare, and we’ll update the story if and when we hear back.

Click here to read the full Pacific Standard report.