Morgan Tsvangirai of the Zimbabwean opposition party Movement for Democratic Change defeated President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe's presidential election March 29 but failed to win an outright majority, forcing a runoff. Since then, independent human rights activists have accused Mugabe, Zimbabwe's leader since 1980, of deploying police, soldiers and party militants in brutal attacks on supporters of the opposition in order in order to ensure his victory in the June 27 runoff. Several UCLA faculty are experts on Zimbabwe and Zimbabwean politics.