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Date set for Zim elections
25/01/2008 16:55 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe is to hold a general election on March 29, when veteran President Robert Mugabe will seek a sixth term of office, the government announced on Friday.
A statement in the name of Mugabe, posted in a government gazette, said the elections would be held the day after the Parliament in Harare is dissolved.
"Now therefore under and by virtue of the powers vested in the president as aforesaid, I do by this proclamation dissolve parliament with effect from midnight the 28 March 2008... (and) fix Saturday the 29 March as the day of the election," Mugabe said.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has threatened to boycott the polls if Mugabe and his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) party try to rig the outcome.
The 83-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980, was confirmed as the Zanu-PF's candidate at a party conference held in the capital Harare last month.
The joint parliamentary and presidential election will be held against a backdrop of an economic meltdown with the annual rate of inflation officially put at nearly 8 000%. Economists believe the figure is closer to 50 000%.
Unemployment is running at about 80% while basic foodstuffs such as cooking oil and sugar are now a scarce commodity in the one-time regional breadbasket.
Mugabe, however, has blamed the country's economic woes on a limited programme of sanctions imposed by the European Union and United States after he allegedly rigged his re-election in 2002.
Zimbabwe has also been plagued by political violence with several senior MDC figures, including its leader Morgan Tsvangirai, assaulted by members of Mugabe's security forces as they tried to stage an anti-government rally last March.
The opposition was given permission to hold a rally earlier this week but only after challenging a police ban in court.
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