A Zimbabwean human rights organisation on Monday urged the country’s ruling parties to allow freedom and fairness in elections tentatively planned for next year.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Saturday called for new elections next year. Many opposition groups and human rights organisations fear that his Zanu-PF party might resort to violence to stay in power after being forced into a power-sharing agreement after the 2008 elections.
The report from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights argued that the country could slip back into instability if elections were not fair.
It further argued that conditions on the ground have not improved since the 2008 elections that resulted in over 200 deaths, mainly of backers of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change party, which was then in the opposition.
African leaders forced the creation of a coalition government in February 2009 after rejecting the results of a presidential election runoff boycotted by Tsvangirai. — Sapa-DPA