Harare — Zimbabwe’s main opposition parties called for protests next week to demand a series of electoral reforms before the country votes on July 30 in the first ballot since Robert Mugabe stepped down as president.
An alliance of opposition parties led by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) wants access to the voters’ roll, an explanation for an increase in polling stations, and equal access to the media, spokesperson Tendai Biti told journalists on Friday. MDC leader Nelson Chamisa said his party would "shut down" the capital, Harare, unless the reforms are implemented, the NewsDay newspaper reported.
"If these issues are not addressed, the prospects of a truly fair, free and credible election in Zimbabwe will be a mirage," Biti said. The alliance announced plans to hold a march on June 5 to the office of President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare. EU monitors will observe the vote for the first time since 2002.
Mnangagwa, who came to power with assistance from the army after Mugabe’s resignation, will stand as the presidential candidate of the ruling Zanu-PF. His main opponent will be Chamisa, who took over the MDC leadership following the death of its former leader Morgan Tsvangirai in February.
Reacting to the alliance’s announcement, information minister Simon Khaya-Moyo said, "it’s up to them to protest".
On Wednesday, the country’s constitutional court ruled against allowing Zimbabweans living abroad to have the right to vote for the first time, as opposition leaders had demanded.
"We are not going to boycott these elections, but there will not be an election that does not meet basic rudimentary requirements," Biti said. "And surely, it’s a basic rudimentary requirement that there is transparency around the voters’ roll. We are not asking for planet Venus."
Bloomberg
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