The country’s opposition, led by former prime minister
Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC, has stepped up its demand for next year’s elections to
be monitored by the United Nations (UN), following the announcement by
President Emmerson Mnangagwa during his inauguration speech last Friday that
the polls will be going ahead as planned.
Their demands are based on fears that Zanu PF could fiddle
with the ballot as what they claimed happened in the 2008 elections which saw
the presidential results being withheld for six weeks.
Zanu PF, under the former president Robert Mugabe, made it
clear that it would not allow the UN to monitor the elections, among a list of
other demands from the opposition that would ensure a free, fair and credible
outcome.
“MDC welcomes the announcement that elections will be held
as scheduled. But they must be free and fair.
“There must be a clear plan to eradicate violence and
intimidation. The military must not be involved and the elections must be UN
supervised,” MDC secretary general Douglas Mwonzora said in on micro blogging
site, Twitter.
Zanu PF has previously stated that Zimbabwe is a sovereign
country that has the capacity to choose countries and institutions it desires
to monitor its electoral processes.
Mnangagwa is set to get the endorsement from the party’s
Congress next month which will he see him pitted against the opposition in next
year’s elections.
The request for a UN-monitored election is one among a host
of other demands that the opposition is pushing for ahead of the elections.
At the same time, the MDC — which has formed a coalition
with six others opposition political parties to create the MDC Alliance — in a
statement through its spokesperson Obert Gutu, said that it expects next year’s
elections to be free and fair.
“Electoral reforms that include complete and thorough
de-politicisation of traditional leaders, should, thus, be promptly put in
place in time for next year’s elections.
“That is the real acid test of the new president’s
inauguration speech. Elections in Zimbabwe have been routinely rigged and
manipulated in favour of the ruling party. Zanu PF has developed a notorious
record of violence, thuggery and intimidation; particularly during
electioneering times,” Gutu.
“Opposition political parties have been deliberately denied
access to State-controlled print and electronic media and we honestly hope and
trust that the Mnangagwa presidency will usher in a more democratic and
tolerant trajectory that firmly abides by all the dictates of the supreme law
of the land.
“We now look forward to the creation of a policy framework
that will, inter alia, create provincial and metropolitan councils, in tandem
with the provisions of our national Constitution,” he added.
Several opposition parties have been calling for electoral
reforms, accusing the ruling Zanu PF government of using defective mechanisms
to its benefit.
Previous elections have been marred with violence and
rigging allegations, which the opposition claim can be arrested through the implementation
of electoral reforms and supervision by internationally recognised bodies.
As an initiative to push for electoral reforms, last year,
the MDC youths held a demonstration which ended in running battles between the
law enforcement agents. Daily News
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