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Zengeza by-election not free and fair
U.S. State Department
March 30, 2004

The following Press Guidance was issued by the United States Department of State on March 29 at the end of the March 27 - 28 Zengeza parliamentary by-election that was controversially won by the ruling ZANU PF party:

"We condemn the violence, intimidation, and irregularities that occurred prior to and during the March 27 - 28 Zengeza parliamentary by-election. The election's improprieties preclude it from being deemed free and fair.

The by-election should have been a routine and peaceful expression of a local constituency's political will. Instead, it became another symbol of the ruling party's pursuit of electoral victories at the expense of the peaceful expression of democratic rights in Zimbabwe.

According to credible reports, two youth supporters from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were shot, one fatally, on March 28 during an armed attack by ruling party supporters on the home of the MDC's candidate. We call upon the Zimbabwean government to investigate the crime and prosecute those responsible.

The violence and irregularities of the Zengeza election are also troubling because of what they portend for another by-election in May and for nationwide parliamentary elections in March 2005.

For future elections to be free and fair, the Zimbabwean government must act now to regularize the political environment. Specifically, it must ensure freedom of the press and of association, suppress and prosecute political violence, allow unfettered political campaigning, and establish an independent electoral supervisory commission."

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