|
Mugabe actions 'against SADC'
21/03/2008 20:19 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's main opposition on Friday deplored new electoral regulations passed by President Robert Mugabe allowing police officers into polling stations during next week's general polls.
Endorsed by Mugabe this week, the regulations would allow police in polling stations to assist illiterate or physically-challenged voters.
"It was argued that it was intimidatory to have illiterate or physically-incapacitated voters vote in the presence of a police officer," the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary-general Tendai Biti said in a statement.
As part of negotiations brokered by the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) last year, the MDC and ruling party agreed that police should not be allowed within 100 metres of a polling station.
"What President Mugabe has done therefore is to bring the old order and allow police officers back into the polling station. It is quite clear that Mugabe's actions are an assault on the SADC dialogue therefore an assault on SADC itself," Biti said, charging the country's leader had changed the rules midway through "the game" and acting as both referee and player.
Mugabe faces a challenge from MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and former finance minister Simba Makoni in joint presidential, legislative and local council elections on Saturday the 29th.
The southern African country's police have often used brutal force against opponents of Mugabe and the police commissioner-general recently warned that his force could use firearms if necessary to crush protests after the polls.
|
News
