Mugabe says only ‘friendly’ observers welcome at next years polls
By Tererai Karimakwenda
05 December, 2007
Robert Mugabe on Tuesday courted controversy by announcing that only friendly nations would be invited to observe the polls. The presence of foreign observers at the elections is one of the conditions the MDC is insisting on at the talks. Mugabe’s statement Tuesday revealed that he has not given in on this issue.
Mugabe said: “We will hold our elections guided by our constitution and laws as we have always done. As is our tradition we will invite friendly and objective members of the international community nations to observe the elections.”
Dr Lovemore Madhuku, chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), said Mugabe wants to invite only his friends in Africa and abroad who always come to Zimbabwe and endorse every election, regardless of the conditions on the ground.
Madhuku explained: “What is clear here is that Mugabe is showing that he has not changed, that the election in 2008 will be held in exactly the same conditions as previous elections, that the so-called talks and everything else that is supposed to be changing things on the ground is clearly a waste of time.”
Asked whether this issue is serious enough for the MDC factions to withdraw from the talks, Madhuku said: “To say they should pull out pre-supposes that they’re engaged in a genuine process of trying to bring about open democracy in Zimbabwe. We don’t know what the agenda of the opposition is, but the message is very clear that the talks will not yield the kind of thing that we would have wanted - namely international supervision of any elections here.”
Madhuku said it is clear Mugabe is prepared for elections in March because he has made sure the ground remains uneven, and he will win. It is now up to the opposition to decide whether they will participate under these conditions.
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