Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has urged Britain to increase pressure on the government of President Robert Mugabe to ensure fair elections in the southern African country in March.
Speaking in London on Wednesday, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said: ”The electoral environment is such that it is, at this current stage, impossible to run free and fair elections precisely because the regime has created conditions that are impossible for free campaigning, free media practice or an independent electoral commission.
”The regime has used violence as instruments of cohesion in order to win votes and support,” Tsvangirai said.
He said the MDC will decide in two or three weeks whether it will participate in parliamentary elections in March next year.
”As far as the 2005 election is concerned, we will be meeting in the next two or three weeks to take a categorical position,” he said.
”At the moment, we are allowing the debate in the party and in the country to [continue] on this issue. We have not yet finalised a decision. We will consider all options, including that of participation and non-participation.”
On discussions with Prime Minister Tony Blair, he said: ”We talked about trying to resolve the crisis through the European Union and other platforms and the British government should be in a position to influence these platforms.”
Tsvangirai, who is on a European tour to highlight abuses in Zimbabwe, said the elections presented an ”historic opportunity” to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe.
He called on Europe to maintain sanctions against Mugabe and to send him a message that there would be ”no normalisation” of relations until there were free and fair elections.
The MDC leader has visited several European countries and said he had received a positive response in all.
He was recently acquitted after a year-long treason trial in Zimbabwe, in which it was alleged he had plotted to have Mugabe killed. – Sapa-dpa