Don't quote me on this but I'm pretty certain that Lowe, for all his sins, has not been having villages burned and citizens killed or maimed in order to ensure that they voted his way. I'm also reasonably confident that McMenemy and Corbett did not withdraw from the AGM in fear of the lives of more of the population, not to mention their own.
Call me arrogant but I think it's a preposterous analogy, and more insulting to the people of Zimbabwe than it is to Rupert Lowe.