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MDC threatens poll boycott
21/01/2008 00:06 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition leader threatened on Sunday to boycott upcoming polls unless President Robert Mugabe bowed to demands for a new voter roll and an independent electoral commission.
"Our message is we want an election. We are preparing for one but we cannot be expected to endorse a fraud," Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told a rally of about 5 000 supporters.
"We want a new voters roll, a fresh delimitation (electoral boundaries) exercise ... We want a Zimbabwe electoral commission which is independent," added Tsvangirai at a football stadium in a Harare township.
Zimbabwe is expected to hold joint parliamentary and presidential elections in March although an exact date has not been set yet. Mbeki talks
However, the opposition has been pushing for a delay to the polls with its leaders understood to have urged President Thabo Mbeki to pressure Mugabe into shelving the poll during talks here last week.
Mugabe, seeking a sixth term of office, has refused to entertain the idea of delaying the polls in a country which is currently grappling with the world's highest rate of inflation.
Tsvangirai said that his party supported the idea of elections, but only if they were held on a level playing field.
"For Zanu-PF (the ruling party) and the MDC, we have a historical opportunity to resolve the crisis in our country. "An election is the only way," said Tsvangirai who was beaten up by Mugabe's security forces when he tried to attend an anti-government rally at the same venue in March last year.
"But if Mugabe goes ahead with the elections in their present form, it will not resolve the country's problems."
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Zimbabwe Special Report
