Back to Index

This article participates on the following special index pages:

Harare dismisses rights group's election criticism
ZimOnline
February 02, 2008

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2643

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s government on Friday rejected criticism by Human Rights Watch (HRW) that next month’s elections will not be free and fair, accusing the United States-based group of bias against President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party.

In its report for 2008 released earlier this week, the HWR said Zimbabwe was among a group of pseudo-democracies whose rulers used "outright fraud and control of electoral machinery" to win elections.

Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu accused the rights group of attempting to prejudge polls even before a single vote was cast.

"How can they know of an election that is yet to be held? That tells that they have a bias against the ruling party and its government," said Ndlovu.

Zimbabwe holds presidential, parliamentary and local government elections on March 29, which analysts predict will be won by Mugabe and ZANU PF despite an acute economic crisis blamed on state mismanagement.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party is expected to contest polls under protest after Mugabe ignored calls by the opposition party to postpone elections and implement a new constitution that would level the political field.

HRW said failure by Mugabe’s government to punish perpetrators of political violence raised the fears that the elections will not free and fair.

"There are serious concerns over whether the forthcoming elections will be free and fair. Impunity that perpetrators of political violence enjoy in Zimbabwe conveys the message that violence in the run-up to and the aftermath of the 2008 elections will also go unpunished," the rights body said.

HWR said basic freedoms such as the freedoms of expression, assembly and the press were constantly being violated with arbitrary arrests of perceived government opponents and criminal prosecution of journalists common in the crisis-hit southern African country.

Other countries named by HWR in as rogue democracies that manipulate elections are Chad, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Malaysia and Thailand.

Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, is in the grip of a severe economic crisis seen in the world’s highest inflation of more than 26 000 percent and shortages of food essential medicines, fuel, electricity, hard cash and just about every basic survival commodity.

Mugabe, in power since 1980 and seeking another five-year term in March, denies mismanaging Zimbabwe, and in turn accuses his Western enemies of sabotaging the his country’s once brilliant economy. – ZimOnline

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP