Zimbabwe’s main opposition party has ”serious reservations” about the credentials of the man chosen to head a new election commission to supervise crunch legislative polls in March.
But the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), in a statement issued late Friday, said it hoped the body — aimed at bringing Zimbabwe in line with southern African regional standards for transparent elections — would do its job without fear or favour.
MDC secretary for information and publicity Paul Nyathi said his organisation ”has serious reservations in respect of the impartiality and independence of the person appointed as the chairperson”.
He said High Court judge, George Chiweshe, appointed on Thursday to head the five-member panel, was ”not known for the impartiality in the manner in which he has handled cases relating to MDC and its members”.
He alleged that MDC members had been ”falsely implicated” in an abduction and murder case by Chiweshe, adding that it hoped he would now ”return to the ideals … of fairness, impartiality and integrity”.
The MDC, which is threatening to boycott the upcoming elections, has dismissed the poll reforms as cosmetic and meaningless.
The MDC, rights groups and foreign experts had branded Zimbabwe’s last two elections in 2000 and 2002 as marred by fraud, intimidation and violence.
Nyathi said his party however hoped that the new poll commission would ensure that Zimbabweans ”for so long denied the democratic right to choose a government … have at least the opportunity to participate in elections … beyond reproach in every respect.”
It called upon the body to ensure that all contesting parties have equal and fair access to the public media, end a police crackdown on opposition meetings, and guarantee that the voters’ rolls are properly compiled and made available to the public.
President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) party, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, hopes to strengthen its hold on power in the March polls. – Sapa-AFP