Voters went to the polls on July 31 to pick a new president . Zimbabwe 's election commission declared that incumbent Mugabe won . The opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which had boycotted previous elections because of Mugabe's rule and his human rights abuses, said it would boycott this one as well. `` This in my view seriously handicaps my prosecution of the petition and it has rendered in impracticable , '' said Tsvangirai , who has since 2000 made three attempts to unseat the now-89-year old Mugabe , Zimbabwe 's only ruler since 1980 . He says the election commission has not released material he wanted for the case .
Voters went to the polls on July 31 to pick a new president . Zimbabwe 's election commission declared that incumbent Mugabe won . The opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which had boycotted previous elections because of Mugabe's rule and his human rights abuses, said it would boycott this one as well. He says the election commission has not released material he wanted for the case .